Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

Hiding behind a tree, Kaizen was watching Ravastine and Jayaa's battle from a safe place so as not to please the Spider-Scorpions attacking them.

"Ravastine, help me!" Jayaa shouted.

"Right!"

Brandishing his sword, Ravastine slashed a three-foot Scorpion Spider that was about to jump at the bard. Jayaa, meanwhile, was attacking another of this type of spider with musical notes coming out of the strings of his lute.

After they entered the Cloudy Woods, Scorpion-spiders didn't stop coming for even a minute. Sometimes Ravastine was the one who killed them all, other times it was Kaizen, and Jayaa also dealt with others a little. Since they were all Primal Rank creatures that were around level 40, the three of them were able to gain quite a bit of XP.

Kaizen thought it would be a good idea to use these spiders to train their teamwork and also to observe how their colleagues fought against strong monsters.

While watching the battle, Kaizen noticed that Ravastine and Jayaa were fighting well together, but there were still many flaws in their teamwork. Sometimes he wondered if he should participate in their fights, to give instructions, but eventually decided that this was not necessary yet. Instead, he kept an eye out for any spiders that might be hiding, ready to attack them.

When no more spiders were pleased in the direction of where they were at last, Kaizen approached them and said:

"I think all the spiders have now been defeated."

"That's it! We did it, Jayaa!" Ravastine replied, kicking the body of the last Spider-Scorpion he killed, before the creature's corpse fell apart.

The bard smiled at her, pleased, as she placed her lute on her back.

"No time for rest. Let us proceed." Kaizen stated, resting the Dagger of Obsession stripped on one of her shoulders.

The bard and the princess nodded and moved on.

The trio continued advancing through the Misty Woods, fighting off various Spider-Scorpions and other monsters that appeared sporadically, until they encountered a large flock of Black Vultures. Psyker knew what this meant: the Shadowcat's hunting ground was near.

The princess and the bard also knew what the monster flock meant, because Kaizen told them, so they quickly got into combat pose.

"Now, you will move forward for about ten meters, and I am sure you will find a ravine." Kaizen told, looking at his two companions. "Be careful as you slide down this ravine, for after that you will enter the Shadow Gatun's area. I will flank out to kill all the Black Vultures and join you as quickly as I can."

Ravastine and Jayaa looked at each other, but eventually agreed.

"All right, just be careful." Jayaa said with a playful tone, knowing that the Black Vultures had no chance against Kaizen, no matter how many there were.

Kaizen searched the grove of dry trees for a good position to kill these flying monsters, until he found a large rock he could climb onto.

This region was not unusual for him, but it was a bit strange to come back after so many events. Anyway, he equipped the Old Bow, which wasn't so old anymore because Kaizen had done a restoration on it.

Then Kaizen equipped three Huko Arrows, which he learned how to make when he acquired their diagram for a bargain 20 gold coins.

In the flock of Black Vultures there were at least three hundred of them. This flock had grown since Psyker's last visit. Now it was like a big cloud covering part of the sky. Kaizen wanted to kill as many Black Vultures as he could, not only so they wouldn't get in the way of his fight against the Shadow Gatun, but also so he could move up a few levels.

As soon as he had positioned three Huko Arrows on the new string of his bow, the tips of the arrows glowed, so he pulled the string close to his shoulder and released them.

The arrows flew hard through the air, wobbling at first, but gaining stability with time. In the blink of an eye, the three arrows struck three different Black Vultures, piercing them from side to side, and immediately the Huko Arrows exploded.

[You killed a Black Vulture, you gained +200 XP].

[You killed a Black Vulture, you gained +200 XP].

[You killed a Black Vulture, you gained +200 XP].

[You killed a Black Vulture, you gained +200 XP].

The echoing sound of the explosions spread throughout the Misty Woods and the trees, shaken by the shockwave, had their branches shaken. This was not a surprise, as Huko Arrows were known to cause extremely powerful explosions.

The game displayed so many kill warnings that Kaizen could no longer even see how many enemies had been killed. However, the game adapted to this and warned him of the total.

[You have killed 104 Black Vultures. You gained +20,800 XP].

"Wow, that was better than I expected!" Kaizen said, smiling, as he held his bow in one hand and shielded his eyes from the wind.

Excited, Kaizen drew three more Huko Arrows and shot them at the flock.

*Boom, Boomm, Boom

[You have killed 78 Black Vultures. You gained +15,600 XP].

[You have killed 118 Black Vultures. You gained +23,600 XP.]

[You have killed 135 Black Vultures. You gained +27,000 XP].

The bodies of these monsters were thrown away from the explosions and fell to the ground, breaking some trees they passed through. Some Black Vulture bodies disintegrated in the air, creating a huge cloud of blue dice.

Seeing this, Ravastine and Jayaa, who were walking to the ravine, looked at each other and then jumped into the ravine. When his feet hit the flat ground again, the first thing they heard was a loud growl. The Shadowcat was definitely there.

...

Edited by: DrHitsuji

If you want to see original illustrations of Rise Online characters, consider helping me on pa treon: Pa treon.com/NandoFalske

More character images in:

https://discord.gg/bpqq9u4gS8

Like it? Add to library!

Don't forget to vote with Powerstone to support the book if you like it...