With the [Right Wing Commander] title active, Kael's stats had soared into a league of their own. Beyond the absurd 500,000 health pool, his attack range, skill radius, and even cooldowns had been transformed.

  Attack Range: 100 yards

  Phantom Barrage: 30x30 yard area of effect, 4-second cooldown

  Any enemy within a hundred yards was now inside his kill zone.

  As Kael reached the breached fence, a few dozen defenders were still positioned on the remnants of the wall, firing down into the village. When they spotted the golden, shimmering [Right Wing Commander] title above his head, their chat channels lit up with excitement.

  "It's him! Ullr!"

  "That's the commander of their right flank."

  "Focus fire! Burn him down!"

  A barrage of arrows, fireballs, and other spells slammed into Kael. The impacts were barely noticeable.

  -102

  -45

  -61

  -95

  -121

  ...

  "Holy shit, his defense is insane! Is he really an archer?"

  "Look at his health—it's half a million!"

  "What the actual FUCK?!"

  Kael looked up, gave the defenders a casual wave, and drew Galeharrow.

  -9729

  -31935

  ...

  Each arrow found its mark, dropping a player. He picked them off with contemptuous ease.

  After clearing the wall, Kael stepped into Starlight Village. The scene before him was one of pure chaos. The narrow village streets were choked with players, locked in a desperate, grinding battle. While the attackers now had superior numbers, the cramped terrain made it difficult to leverage that advantage. They were forced to rely on their superior stats to slowly push the defenders back, inch by bloody inch.

  Not far from where Kael stood, a hundred-player brawl was raging. He raised his bow and unleashed Phantom Barrage.

  An impossibly dense rain of arrows materialized in the sky, blanketing a 30x30 yard area.

  System: You have killed a Player. +3 Points.

  System: You have killed a Player. +3 Points.

  System: You have killed an NPC. +3 Points.

  ...

  Over ninety kill notifications spammed his log in an instant.

  Everyone nearby froze. Friend and foe alike turned to stare at Kael. A look of sheer terror dawned on the defenders' faces.

  "It's Ullr! He's here!"

  "He just used his big skill, it's on cooldown! Don't be afraid!"

  "If you're not afraid, then why are you running?"

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  "They need support over on the next street! I'll be right back!"

  In a flash, the defenders in front of him completely vanished, leaving the attacking players standing there, dumbfounded. They turned to look at Kael.

  "Don't thank me," he said with a nod. "Just doing my part."

  The looks they gave him grew even stranger. Finally, one player hesitantly raised his hand.

  "Uh... Right Wing Commander... how are we supposed to get any points like this?"

  Kael scratched his head. He thought he'd been helping, but he'd just scared away all their "customers."

  Just then, a frantic message appeared in the faction channel.

  "SOS! The left flank needs support!"

  "LEFT FLANK NEEDS SUPPORT!"

  Kael turned to the nearby players. "You guys keep pushing here. I'm heading to the west flank."

  With that, he broke into a run. Strangely, he encountered almost no resistance along the way. He figured most of the defenders had run off to the western flank to get away from him and farm some points of their own.

  As he was cutting across the central square, he suddenly felt his body grow heavy. His feet tangled, and with a soft thud, he pitched forward onto the ground.

  System: Your feet have been ensnared by Auric Web. Movement speed reduced to 0.

  Kael froze.

  An excited shout echoed from a nearby rooftop. "We got him!"

  A black shadow descended from above, a heavy club swinging down onto Kael's head.

  -2755 (Stun)!

  Kael's body went rigid.

  System: You have been struck by Shadow Assassin Rysa's [Sap]. You are incapacitated.

  Suddenly, hundreds of players poured out from the surrounding buildings, completely encircling him. By the time the stun wore off, Kael was already reaching for his bow, but the figure who had ambushed him tossed a glob of viscous slime onto his hands.

  Splat.

  System: Your hands are covered in [Velthar Slime]. You are unable to wield your weapon.

  Kael's eyes widened. Velthar Slime! That was an incredibly rare item used specifically to disarm opponents. He finally got a good look at his attacker and realized it was a female NPC, and a boss at that.

  [Shadow Assassin Rysa (Boss)]: Level 35

  HP: 10,000,000

  Physical Attack: 8500

  Physical Defense: 4100

  ...

  It all clicked. Kael was practically a boss himself at this point; it made sense that ordinary players wouldn't be able to lock him down so easily. Their ambush was being led by another boss.

  Seeing Kael disarmed, the surrounding players attacked with renewed confidence.

  -112

  -35

  -1

  -91

  -22

  ...

  The individual hits were pathetic, but with hundreds of players attacking at once, Kael’s health dropped by forty or fifty thousand with every volley.

  The moment the slime wore off his hands, Rysa was on him again, her club connecting with a sickening crunch that sent him back into a daze.

  Another wave of damage washed over him, and another 50,000 HP vanished. As massive as his health pool was, he wouldn't last long under this kind of sustained fire.

  Kael instantly switched his control scheme to Manual Mode and activated a skill.

  [Mirror Image]!

  His Main Body vanished. In his place stood three identical versions of Kael, every single debuff cleansed from his form. Before the enemy could react, he used the [Warp Emblem] on his gear to teleport 20 yards away.

  An instant later, the sky opened up.

  System: You have killed a player. +3 Points.

  System: You have killed a player. +3 Points.

  System: You have killed a player. +3 Points.

  ...

  Notifications for over 600 points flooded his screen.

  Rysa, living up to her title as a level 35 Shadow Assassin, had pinpointed his true location the exact moment he'd initiated Phantom Barrage. She was a blur of motion, closing the 20-yard gap in the blink of an eye.

  Kael fired a single, calculated shot. It struck her dead-center.

  -28472 (Silkbind Shot)

  Galeharrow's passive ability triggered.

  Thump.

  Rysa, her feet now ensnared by the same sticky silk, suffered the same fate Kael had moments before. She was rooted for two seconds.

  Kael immediately began backpedaling, firing as he moved to create more distance. Though Rysa was trapped, the other players weren't about to let him go, swarming in to surround him again.

  "Don't let him get away!"

  "Block his line of sight!"

  "Don't let him keep the boss locked down!"

  Blocking his line of sight was a valid strategy. If Kael couldn't target the boss, he couldn't attack her. But they were facing Kael in Manual Mode.

  A faint smirk touched Kael’s lips. He lifted Galeharrow slightly, drew the bowstring taut, and released.

  Swoosh~

  The arrow flew not in a straight line, but in a high, graceful parabola, coming down perfectly on the immobilized Rysa.

  -8999 (Silkbind Shot)

  Even better, the shot's Splintering Arrow and Pierce effects chained to six nearby players, killing them instantly. Kael once again created more distance between himself and the boss.

  He began to kite, moving and shooting with a fluid rhythm that kept Rysa permanently rooted to the spot. Every shot he fired at her also claimed the lives of five or six players caught in the crossfire.

  The boss's health plummeted.

  10,000,000...

  8,500,000...

  7,000,000...

  In just over three minutes, he had already shaved off three million of her HP.

  Just when Kael thought he had the situation completely under control, Rysa's form suddenly blurred. In her place now stood four identical assassins.

  Kael grimaced.

  Crap! This just got complicated.