Second World

"How can you use Blade Dancer's skill?!" Jeanny asked.

A scary thought crossed through Jeanny's mind for a moment. Could Spring Crown also acquire a second class? But she quickly dismissed it. Her spear had clashed with Spring Crown's weapons. Neither his strength nor speed was of someone who possessed two classes. A bit above average players perhaps, but not drastic. He only had the attributes of one class.

Spring Crown just gave her his typical smile without explaining. This silent mock was more effective as it caused Jeanny to become vexed.

Jeanny forced herself to keep calm. They were in an unadvantageous situation. If she lost her calm, the people she led would do so as well.

What Spring Crown used was his special class' level 70 skill. At this level, Weapon Ruler gained the Copy Weapon Skill. This skill could copy any skill that used a weapon but Spring Crown had to see the skill being performed first. Once he saw someone executing the skill, he could also perform the skill by equipping the required weapon.

The copied skill lasted for as long as the cooldown of the Copy Weapon Skill but not longer than the original skill's duration. At its first level, the Copy Weapon Skill's cooldown was ten minutes. Spring Crown had max-leveled this skill. This brought its cooldown to only five minutes. This meant he could copy another skill only five minutes after the first copied skill was used.

He could use the Heavenly Spear Drill after watching Jeanny use it on Master earlier. As for the Asura, he watched one nearby player use it. The copied skill followed the skill's original cooldown, though. For example, the Asura's cooldown was one hour. If after his Copy Weapon Skill's five-minute cooldown ended, he saw another person performing Asura, he wouldn't be able to use that skill again even if he copied it.

This skill shone when the user fought against multiple enemies because this gave him a variety of skills to copy every five minutes, especially if the skills he copied were high-level skills with long cooldowns. He could execute different high-level skills every five minutes, provided his copy skill was not on cooldown when he saw them being performed.

With this copy skill and his original skills, Spring Crown gave Jeanny and the others a hard time in retreat. Jeanny understood if she didn't make the hard decision soon, the enemy's main army might come and trap them. At that time, none of them would be able to escape. She had to make a sacrifice!

When she was about to offer herself and ask her guildmates to sacrifice themselves to cover the majority of the army, a large group came charging at the army Spring Crown led. Jeanny looked over and found that the group was the guild players from the Licth Squad.

One of its members, HeroV, was a level 71 Paladin. He rushed in Jeanny's direction, throwing Holy Hammers as he approached, forcing Spring Crown to back off. He then cast Soothing Light at Giant Steve, healing his lost HP. Without a word, he engaged Spring Crown.

When Jeanny was about to give help, a voice stopped her.

"Lead the others to retreat to the second layer!"

Jeanny turned and saw the Licth Squad's leader, Viking, who was a level 71 Berserker.

"We retreat together!" Jeanny said.

"No! We will hold them here. You lead the others away!"

"But… You will be surrounded," Jeanny said.

"Yes, but you will all survive," Viking replied. "Go!!"

He stopped arguing and charged ahead to engage the enemy with HeroV. Kenny Boy and Dragonmasta, who were Technocraft and Dragoon respectively, followed closely behind him and provided backup.

When Jeanny was still unsure, Genesis who stayed behind since he was a Reaver, said to her, "Go. This is our atonement for losing the Num Maldur Pass. Our greed got the better of us. It shouldn't have happened. We are already grateful President Thelgrun still trusts us enough to not kick us out. This is our chance to erase our shame. Please let us do this."

Jeanny didn't waste time. She knew hesitation could be fatal during a war. She said to Genesis, "President Thelgrun trusts your guild because you are honorable people. Everyone makes a mistake once in a while. Your mistake might be severe but I think it is still redeemable. Thank you. We will leave this place to you."

Genesis nodded without looking back. He was busy using his soul orb to heal his guild mates.

Jeanny called for everyone to make a quick dash while the Licth Squad held the ground. Everyone stopped fighting. They turned and ran. Those who had steeds summoned them for faster movement speed. Jeanny looked at the Licth Squad who was barely holding the ground before she climbed onto her hippogriff and flew away.

*

All the defenders from the first layer's choke points were fleeing toward the second layer. Some were fortunate enough that they retreated without the enemy's interference. Some were not as lucky. Enemy soldiers harassed them as they retreated.

The group that True Death Associates were with was one of the unlucky ones. Enemy soldiers came chasing them as they were retreating.

Black Death was more decisive than Jeanny. She didn't hesitate to order a portion of her members to hold the enemy down while the majority retreated.

However, one small enemy group came at them from their flanks.

Red Death saw the incoming enemy group. She rushed forward and used her Ice God Barrage. The twenty large ice balls hit the group. The ones who didn't die from the divine skill were frozen.

One enemy skillfully dodged the ice balls. He continued onward even when only he alone was left. Stonecleave went forward to engage this lone enemy.

"Stonecleave, don't face him alone!" Red Death shouted.

Her warning came too late. Stonecleave and this lone enemy had come into the melee range. Stonecleave used Weapons Festival and swung all nine melee weapons at this enemy, who turned out to be Long.

Long used Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms. All the weapons were swept away by the powerful force of the martial art. The force also caused Stonecleave to stagger. He was unable to adopt a stance.

Long's palm turned into a fist then. Nine suns gathered into his fist as he punched that fist straight into Stonecleave's chest. Stonecleave flew back with chained explosions detonating from within his body.

On the fifth explosion, his HP reached zero and his body exploded into a gory mess. The scene caused everyone to take a step back.

The explosive energy from the Nine Yang Exploding Fist didn't stop even after it killed Stonecleave. The remaining four explosions continued onward, heading toward Red Death who happened to run toward it because she tried to help Stonecleave.

She stabbed her daggers to the front and used her weapon's ability, Demon's Tooth. The image of a demon's head appeared as it bit the explosive energy from the Nine Yang Exploding Fist.

The clash between the weapon skill and the ancient art produced a shockwave that threw Red Death back.