MMORPG: The Elementalist

Schwaff!

Qin Ruo let out a long sigh. He had lost count of the times he had sighed ever since he entered the Underworld. He was rooted to the spot. The Underworld before his eyes made him feel unprecedented pressure and depression.

‘This damned place. The stupid lord Hades has turned this land lifeless. Not even the slightest greenery could be seen around.’

Within the area where the eyes could reach, not a single living organism or vegetation was seen under the grayish sky. The closest thing to a plant that he could find were those thick black thorns.

The grim sky was not the common blue seen at the land above. Even the clouds were black. He found himself in very silent space. There was no wind in such an atmosphere that was only occupied by despair and death everywhere.

“The harvest around here would be extremely poor when fall comes,” Qin Ruo cursed. He stopped gazing at the disappointing scenery and looked back at the wrecked campsite he had arrived at.

He figured he might be slightly “luckier” than those unfortunate allies from Black Jail. He came through a wrecked campsite that must have been devastated by wars for ages.

Around the camp was some humble stone buildings yet to be weathered by the wind. The camp was merely held by two large rocks and was sandwiched by rows of stone walls with cavities—evidence of the fierce battle that had taken place here previously.

Though it was destroyed just like the other ruins around it, Qin Ruo could identify the Mobile Campsite by identifying the structure and the simple defensive mechanisms set on its front door using his Perception.

Qin Ruo remorsefully scanned past the rows of tent covered by dust. His eyes fell on a bodily remain that wore thick armor.

The corpse was one of the few relatively intact ones found around the campsite. Inevitably, it was also covered by a thick layer of dust.

Qin Ruo walked over and took a good look at the remain.

The corpse had its back leaned against the wall. It held a sword in one hand, while the other drooped lifelessly. It was facing the Underworld sky, looking into the abyss with its now hollow sockets. Its mouth opened slightly as if he was trying to tell Qin Ruo something…

This triggered something in Qin Ruo’s mind and he was suddenly immersed in a fast-forwarded flashback.

The endless sea of Spectral armies was cornering several winged Demigod players into the narrow campsite. After they took down waves of Specter and Liches, more Specters poured in relentlessly. Dead Specters were also constantly resurrected by Spectral Shaman from the back, making their resistance futile…

The Demigod fighters finally exhausted their supply and will…

The human Swordmaster witnessed helplessly as his comrades were being torn apart by the Specters. He lost all hope out of extreme sorrow and finally dropped back against the wall. He looked up to the Underworld sky and allowed the Lich to penetrate his chest freely with their spears.

Two words came out of his mouth before his last breath.

“Go home…”

Qin Ruo’s heart was shaken by the two powerless words. In that instance, he could vividly feel the strong will of the human Swordmaster as if he was the dying man himself. The Swordmaster’s unmoving desire to return home and his determination not to turn into a Specter was what had protected his body from being contaminated. Those two powerful emotions helped him evade Hades’ summon and prevented himself from turning into a soulless Specter.

Affected by the Swordmaster’s perseverance, Qin Ruo saluted the corpse. At the same time, he rushed into a decision due to the surging emotion.

He dusted the armor and spoke to the human Swordmaster, who had his heart set on the Mythical Continent in his dying moment, “Let’s get back… home…”

The Swordmaster that had rested for years seemed to have heard Qin Ruo. As soon as the word “home” was spoken, the corpse suddenly lost its integrity and was crushed by the thick armor. Under Qin Ruo’s surprised eyes, a small pile of white powder was directed by an unknown force out of the armor and swirled into a transparent glass vial just beside the metal.

“Eh?” After realizing that he might have triggered some kind of hidden quest, Qin Ruo looked down and discovered an aged yellow envelope beside the glass vial.

He picked it up and read the heartfelt words.

“To the warrior still fighting to go home, speak naught of gratitude. Take my weapon and the letter. I hereby entrust you to carry my ashes and weapon back to the Mythical Continent. Pass them to any Elder of the Mercenary Guild and tell them “your Evildoer has come home”.”

The system notification sounded immediately after that.

Evildoer’s Quest. Take Evildoer’s ashes and his weapon back to the Mythical Continent and return them to the Mercenary Guild Elder. Quest Reward: Unknown.

Do you accept?

“Yes, I do.”

Since there were only two items and it would hardly affect his weight limit by owning Ring of Honor, he accepted the quest without a second thought.

His sense tingled a little after he accepted the quest. Qin Ruo dexterously picked up and stored the ashes and the heavy sword from the floor into his ring. He turned back quickly to release a row of Frost Arrow.

Five Frost Arrows to three different directions behind his back.

Thud!

Three human-like figures stumbled out and revealed themselves. Their empty sockets and hairless skulls evidently revealed their identities—Specters.

Phantom Skeleton.

Level: Unknown ??

Ability: Unknown ??

These monster had successfully evaded Qin Ruo’s Elemental Perception, but he had cautiously placed a layer of water net nearby the moment he entered the Underworld as a second line of protection. He knew how the players from Black Jail were killed and he would not allow such blunder upon himself.

“Poochie!” He commanded in a light voice. The golden creature’s chirping was immediately heard in response to the summoning. Poochie jumped straight onto the three exposed Phantom Skeletons. They were inflicted with a mild Chill Effect after being hit by the Beginner-tier arrow spell. Apparently, these Phantom Skeletons were just some ordinary Tier 5 Specters.

(The Tier 2 Frost Arrow is just a Beginner Spell. However, this does not change the fact that it has three hundred and eighty points of Magic Attack out of Qin Ruo’s hand. The 80% increase of Chill Effect could equally make this Tier 2 spell rather terrifying)

Qin Ruo guessed it right. The Phantom Skeleton was indeed one of the weakest creatures in the Underworld. Three Phantom Skeletons may be threatening to an ordinary Tier 5 player, but they stood no chance against a powerful Winged player of Qin Ruo’s level once they were exposed.

After he wrapped up the fight with ease, Qin Ruo wandered around the ruined campsite for one last time to check whether he had missed out any other valuable stuff or information. After a while, without any further discovery, he spread his Angelic Wings and left the site.

His primary objective at the moment was to quickly locate a functional campsite. The second thing on his itinerary would be investigating the path that might lead to the Buried City, as well as tracking the location of the separated Black Jail Clan members.

***

‘Something doesn’t feel right.’ Qin Ruo thought.

After he flew for less than three minutes, Specters on the ground began to gather under him from different paths like a swarm of ants. At the horizon, he could also clearly see numerous black dots approaching him quickly. Some dots were larger than the others (Skeleton Dragon, obviously).

Qin Ruo peered at his glowing Angelic Wings and could roughly guess why the monster moved like they were being guided by a GPS.

He hastily folded his wings and activated Aquamorph.

He could easily annihilate the gathering Specters and Skeleton Dragons in turns, but his main concern was the smaller black dots. He was not ready to face a Lich.

Besides, he had no time and energy to be tangled up by the lowly creatures even if there was no Lich involved.

Once the Angelic Wings disappeared, the Specters gathered directly under the Aquamancer immediately became chaotic. They had just lost the beacon.

The black dot on the far sides had also stopped approaching and moved away afterward.

“Phew!” Qin Ruo inhaled deeply. It was indeed due to the Angelic Wings, which could alert the Spectral creatures in a larger radius.

He initially planned to utilize the glow of the wings to attract the attention of the human players traveling inside the Underworld. Apparently, this was not a very bright idea. ‘How to look for allies if the wings attract so many foes first?’

He pondered perhaps this was probably the reason why the entire campsite he saw earlier was being stampeded by a horde of Specters. The dead Swordmaster and his comrades must have activated Angelic Wings.

As a result, Qin Ruo could only rely on his Aquawing to glide and search for a more conspicuous NPC Camp.

Qin Ruo glided above numerous Specters deep in thought. He turned back to scan the massive Spectral Army. The number of dead creatures he saw was definitely greater than that of the Buried City. If he had a team with him now, he would surely lure them with his Angelic Wings and farm until he was satisfied. ‘Well, of course, that is given that this will not also lure the Lich over…’

Qin Ruo was most probably the only trapped player in this Underworld that had the pleasure to consider such a matter. He was also the only one who had yet to taste the true terror of this unknown continent.

***

As Black God was worried about his imprisoned comrades inside the Underworld, Clan Leaders from Netherspirit’s Claw and many others were also troubled by the same problem.

There were only about 2000 Tier 5 Classes across the entire Angel Faction.

In a Clan, Tier 5 players were always considered to be the best of the best, the pillar that strengthened the Clan prestige. When suddenly a portion of them was trapped inside the Underworld and unable to return, even Netherclaw who had the most Tier 5 underlings could not stop beating himself.

He quickly gathered Snowmelt, Dark Dragon and his team to look for a solution. They needed to get their trapped members out by all means.

“Return Scrolls are banned inside the Underworld. We have to contact those Clans that have also sent in their party to block the news immediately. Or else our allies would be left behind with no reinforcements.” The first thing that came to Snowmelt’s mind was to cut off the news.

Dark Dragon and others were first stunned, then immediately understood the logic behind it.

This was indeed a good approach. It would also prevent other competitive clans, like Fallen Angels and Hall of Heroes from overtaking Netherspirit’s Claw. Everyone else had to be weakened equally.

Moreover, the quest on Demon Faction had also reached its final stage. They could not allow the Demon Faction to grasp any opportunity that might topple the Angel Faction’s advantage at the Buried City. This would give away their very first victory after the defeat at Moonrise City.

“Do we need to inform Hall of Heroes and Fallen Angels as well?” Dark Dragon asked.

Netherclaw nodded. “Well, we have to. There are about two hundred men from our faction in it now. This has greatly destabilized the Angel Faction. I believe they would not wish to see the Buried City fall into the hand of the Demon Faction once more…” He paused for a while and continued regretfully, “I heard that Qin Ruo was about to get in earlier. But then he was held back by Black God and Majestic Hero. How unfortunate! If they were all inside, this would be a great chance to deal with all of them, once and for all. Hmph. Qin Ruo, Homme Fatale, Black Rock, and Violet Orchid. If these four powerhouses were gone, Fallen Angels, Bauhinia, and Violent Army would certainly be done for too. They would not survive without their Clan Leader.”

“…” Dark Dragon and others nodded in agreement. Judging by the current situation, whereby the speed of leveling had inflated exponentially, Tier 5 would become the mainstream of H&G sooner or later. Hence, in the future battle against the Demon Faction, whether or not these three Clans survived may not be as important anymore.

As the meeting focus shifted away from how to save their trapped comrades, Netherclaw suddenly shushed everyone in the middle of the meeting. He gestured for them to listen.

In the next second, his face lighted up with a smile followed by a hysterical expression.

“Haha! Our comrades in the Underworld are not entirely useless. They have just brought us good news. Qin Ruo is in the Underworld too! Hmph! Winter Demon, you will become history of the past together with your Fallen Angels!”