Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

The explosion near the center of the housing district was so loud that all the other surrounding neighborhoods could hear it as well.

This explosion did not cause much damage to the district despite its huge shockwave. Even so, a huge green cloud with a dense interior was created at the site of the explosion. Despite this, the cloud was not poisonous, nor did it present any health hazards to those who entered it, because if this were the case, all players within it would hear a warning about a physical condition being applied.

This being the case, everything led the Bleeding Lily to believe, from her experience, that the smoke from the explosion was for whoever caused all this to also be able to hide to escape or remain hidden.

The Blood Lily had sharp eyes and so she felt confident that she could find the mage who was protecting the Blood Wolves.

'He is a mage, but every mage needs to see the target to be able to use a magic, which means the individual must still be around.' She thought, already holding the tensioned string of her bow.

Soon, she saw within the greenish smoke a hooded figure behind a wagon. Yes, it could be an NPC who's name was hidden because he was wearing a hood, or even a player, but even if it was either of those two options, the figure was wiggling his fingers in an unusual way while looking at the Blood Wolves. To Bleeding Lily there was no doubt, this person was bewitching the Blood Wolves.

*Zimm*

She shot the arrow, which shot through the smoke at an impressive speed.

The hooded person could briefly hear the whir of the approaching arrow, and all he could do was move a little to the left. This lucky move made the arrow miss his head, but hit the figure's right shoulder. Quickly, the figure tried to look for which direction the arrow came from, to know where to run, but the smoke from the explosion proved to be a problem for the stranger as well, because he couldn't see anyone.

'Where did that arrow come from? I can't die here! I won't die here! I have to run!' Wisely, the hooded person opted for the plan of running away rather than insisting on a fight with a mysterious enemy.

Just as this person got up to start running, his hood got tangled in a hook of the wagon and since this person was very scared, he just started running without caring. The hood ripped, revealing short hair and when the mysterious witch turned back to see if anyone was following him, he revealed to Kaizen and Lily that it was a middle-aged man with an almost shaved head.

With the end of the spell, the group of players equalized their power level in the battle. The swordsmen coordinate their attacks with the hits from the woman's crossbow and managed to kill the Blood Wolves, however, Kaizen and Bleeding Lily did not watch this happen, because their goal now was to run after the witch.

The man in the black cloak was running weakly and felt that something was wrong. The arrow that had hit him was still stuck in his right shoulder, but despite this he shouldn't be feeling so weak, because he hadn't lost so much blood yet, precisely because he hadn't pulled out the arrow. Suddenly he thought of a possibility, and although it was not the most recommended course of action, he stopped his escape as he entered the alley to get the arrow out of his shoulder.

Grabbing the shaft of the arrow with his left hand, he pulled it out and an instinctive howl of pain came out.

"Arghh!"

Immediately, he looked at the tip of the bloody arrow and saw something that confirmed his greatest fear. On the tip of the arrow, there was a thick purple liquid, meaning that this was a poisoned arrow.

"Damn them..." He muttered breathlessly.

His vision was slowly turning red, his heart was beating faster and faster, and the left side of his body was numb. The poison used was probably some natural poison, toxicological and very strong.

"Oh, Hermodr... I won't be able to live to see the world you will bring to us..." He said, looking up with regret. "No. I can't think that way. If I can only get to Barbara, I might have a chance." The wizard thought and ran back.

The man was not fast and was walking through the narrow alleys of the labyrinthine city like a child goes through a maze without thinking much about where he is going.

When the wizard heard footsteps coming from the buildings above him, he tried to increase the speed of his run.

Using only the sounds of his footsteps, the Bleeding Lily and Kaizen managed to make the man run away to an empty alley, away from the center and with no exit. As soon as the man came across a huge brick wall in the alley he entered, he tried to go back the same way he came there, but two people landed in front of him.

One of these people was a woman with intensely red hair who wore majestic scarlet armor.

The other person was a man stupidly tall for most, with arms of stringy muscles and who was wearing typical lancer's armor, which had a side cape and shining steel components.

Facing these two people head on, the wizard knew that he had no chance of getting out alive if his opponents were these two people. Still, an uncontrollable urge within him, a dream, or rather an obsession, to want to see the world his great master would one day create, made him cast magic against his pursuers almost instinctively.

The man opened both hands and spaced each of his fingers wide apart. A green aura began to envelop him as he gradually lifted off the ground.

Kaizen clenched his eyes watching this and then also clenched his right fist, which he used to punch the man as hard as he could in the man's face, cancelling the sorcerer's magic before he could finish what he was doing.

Falling to the ground with half his face dented and the mark of Kaizen's fist on the left side of his face, the man had his collar pulled by the Psyker, who lifted him by the collar to his height and said:

"Did you really try to use a magic with such a delay so close to your opponents? You are a disappointment. I thought you would have more to show me."

The sorcerer smiled bitterly. "No... I was just buying time for the rest of the staff to get to where... they wanted..." He said weakly and finally lost consciousness.

...

Edited by: DrHitsuji

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