He decided he could not stay still at one place, he would be a sitting duck. As he was about to double his effort to force himself out of the encirclement and move away, he felt a sudden stab at his back. He turned back and caught a glimpse of a familiar figure in red garb moving away.
It's that annoying sneaky Rogue from Wicked Witches! Jack still remembered the woman, her name was Slim Blade. He had been having a good impression of hers due to her help when he was using his Unrivalled Arcaner persona, but now that feeling was completely gone, replaced by the urge to stab his sword into that woman's legs so she could not be sneaky again.
When the Hellish Explosion had erupted, it had taken out many of the coalition players. However, the players that died were only a small portion of the coalition army. There were still plenty of players around to gang up on Jack. However, Scarface had decided it was not the right move for it. After all, there was only a little space when they were engaging one person, the large number of players they had were null since they could not all land attack on Jack at the same time. They still had to come at him one wave at a time.
They could try to continue with a long continuous tactic to exhaust Jack off his restorative potions. But looking at Jack's terrifying efficiency in killing the weaker players, the sacrifice would be enormous. They still needed these lackeys to be the cannon fodder when White Scarfs and the group of independent players arrive. Thus, the leaders decided it's time to have their experts engaged Jack. Though the risk of them dying was there, the chance of taking out Jack in a short time was also higher with the experts' involvement.
Jack had already felt the pressure now these experts showed themselves. His previously slowly healing health was starting to steadily go down again due to the joined assaults from these experts.
His Flash Step skill which he executed from time to time managed to confuse his opponents and allow him to cope with their numbers. It also prevented him from being an easy target for the Archer and the hidden Rogue, Slim Blade. But the Flash Step skill had limited range, it could help him survive but it could not be used to help him escape the encirclement. He was still in predicament.
He had also executed his Shredding Fang. The move killed a few Rangers and brought the surrounding Fighters into critical health, but they were soon recovered by healing lights. The group of Healers had come again outside the encirclement. The Heal spell did not fully heal the Fighters' HP, but the wounded ones were spry enough to remove themselves from the front line. Their comrades were also coordinated enough to quickly take over their positions, allowing no gap in their formation.
Those Fighters were also veterans who were used to fight together in a team, Jack thought with woe.
Time to change the rule of engagement, Jack thought as he took out a magic scroll and activated it. The ground burst and numerous vines shot out from it. The Fighters were in close range and their comrades were cluttered around them, so when the Wall of Vines came out, many had no space to evade, ended up being entangled by the vines. Even one of the Knights was trapped by it.
Jack then took a different scroll out. It was the only offensive magic scroll in his possession, the Arcane Turbulence which he had experienced first hands. He cast it at the space behind the Wall of Vines, where the unsuspecting Fighters and Rangers were trying to hack at the vines to free their comrades. The magic took place and engulfed them.
The Arcane Turbulence had an area of effect with a diameter of 6 meters. Due to the high density of the enemies flocking together, many were caught inside the spell. The ones at the innermost had difficulty escaping due to being blocked by their comrades and also due to being slowed down by the Disoriented status accompanying the spell. Thus, many of them died from that spell.
The Wall of Vines formed a linear fence that only blocked one direction, hence the other enemies could still come at Jack from other directions. However, stopping one part of the encirclement was already enough for Jack to take advantage of the situation.
The Knights and the Warriors, who were not caught by the scroll's spells, now came at Jack from left and right. Jack parried their attacks using his sword while blocking using the Magic Shield. He coped with them while moving closer to the Wall of Vines.
Those melee experts were not stupid, they continued attacking Jack while keeping a safe distance from the vines to prevent from getting entangled. They were mocking Jack in their minds about how shallow his intention was as it was easily seen through. Jack's back got close to the vine wall as he continued to defend, and then he used Flash Step.
He appeared on the other side of the vine wall, which was now devoid of enemy. The Arcane Turbulence had cleared up the area, and its 10-second duration had expired. Jack was out of the encirclement.
He caught sight of the group of Magicians and mages not far ahead, some healers were there too. He immediately used Charge and rushed at them. The magicians did not expect him to suddenly appear nearby, their reactions were slow. When they started to throw attacks, Jack was already near. Many of the attacks missed, while the ones that hit, were blocked by Magic Shield.
A small metal ball was thrown out from Jack's hand when he got near. The metal ball landed within the crowd of Magicians. All of a sudden, a deafening blast was heard. The area around where the metal ball had landed was covered by a bright explosion. Everyone within the blast radius received damage around 270 damage. Some of the lower-level magicians died immediately, while the others were at critical.
The description said 300 damage, but guessed it was reduced by their defense, Jack thought. The metal ball was one of the disruptive bombs he had bought. He didn't let go of that golden opportunity, the disruptive bomb stopped those hit by the blast for two seconds, and all of them were in critical health already, there was even one mage caught in the blast.
Without wasting time, Jack dived into them and slashed rapidly, claiming their lives while they were immobile. They were helpless to do anything. A healing light covered the Mage when Jack reached him, but he gave the mage a Power Strike, claiming his life already despite getting healed.
He then turned to the Healer who had cast the healing spell. "It's your turn," Jack said as he tossed another Disruptive Bomb in the healer's direction. The healer got the scare of his life. He tried to run, but his slow movement could not save his fate. The bomb detonated, killing several players around him while stopping the movements of the ones that survived, only for Jack to reap their lives soon.
Jack heard a swoosh sound and immediately ducked. He had heard such a sound before and knew an arrow was aiming at him. His duck luckily allowed him to dodge the arrow. He glanced at the direction the arrow was coming from, the Archer was still too far, so Jack did not bother to go over.
A movement in his radar caught his attention, a red dot was coming at high speed towards his back. He already knew who that was. He turned around with a magic scroll ready at hand. It was cast right before Slim Blade reached him. The Rogue woman was abruptly stopped when a coil made of light bound her body. It was the Magic Bind spell.
Consider this repayment of favor for helping Unrivalled Arcaner, Jack uttered in his mind as he gave the bound Rogue a strong kick. Slim Blade was sent far away by the kick while still bound. She had no idea her action during the guild meeting had saved her life here.
Arrows kept on coming at him. The archer's accuracy was good. However, previously Jack was stuck inside encirclement so he had minimal movement. Now, on the other hand, he could freely express his high movement speed, which was even higher than a normal level 20 Rogue, due to his dual-class added by his rare boots' skill which added 20% movement speed. Many of the arrows missed Jack, while the rare one that did, was either blocked by his Magic Shield or cut into two by his sword.
Jack did not forget to drink basic healing potion and then use the Regeneration scroll which cooldown was off now, recovering the missing HP from hits he had suffered all the while during the battle.
With the help of the magic scrolls and Disruptive Bombs, the fight had truly become much easier. But he could not help to feel heartache every time the bomb went off. As each usage was coins gone. He was truly fighting using coins at the moment.
