The skill that Ronald used was called Wraith Phase. It was similar to Jack's Shooting Dash. It was a movement skill. Different was Ronald's Wraith Phase could pass through obstacles. But it had a shorter range compared to Shooting Dash, only covering six meters distance even at max level.
Wraith Phase gave its user the ability to move three times, the same as Shooting Dash. But when the Shooting Dash user only had the time to deliver one fast attack in between the dashes, Wraith Phase gave its user a time gap of ten seconds maximum before the user changed into a shadow and moved again.
This ten-second gap gave Ronald more tactical advantages, as he could shoot at his opponents after dodging using Wraith Phase. When his opponents came again before the ten seconds expired, he could again turn into a shadow and moved away. This made him appear as if he was executing the same movement skill three times in succession with seemingly no cooldown time.
Nomodem and Offline Beasts' footsoldiers were confused by Ronald constantly zooming around them. All the time they were barraged by gunshots. Ronald's gun damage was very high and almost every hit was a critical hit. Nowifi had to cast healing wind and healing rain to keep them alive.
Even though they were confused, they had no choice but to continue chasing after Ronald. They didn't believe he could continue this way of dodging without end. Some Offline Beasts players were also approaching to assist in confining Ronald's movement.
While everyone was focused on catching him, Ronald aimed outside his encirclement after the third movement of his Wraith Phase. When he fired, it was not a normal bullet. The bullet shot out in the form of a tiny shooting star the size of a baseball. This was a modified Snipe skill using an evolve seed, Power Snipe.
The shooting star traveled at high speed and struck Nowifi's head, dealing a critical hit. The increased damage from the power-up snipe, added by critical damage, killed her in a single hit. Her ongoing spell, Healing Rain, abruptly stopped following her demise.
Ronald then jumped up and used the level 50 gunner's skill, Bulletstorm. His Bulletstorm had also been max-leveled. Each level-up increased the number of bullets. Common players would not be able to control the direction of their aims during the activation of this skill. But Ronald was the same as Mils, he had trained to master this skill, allowing him to make a conscious aim on each firing.
He also activated his perception skill, Focus Sight, which slow down time for him. With a perspective that perceived everything in slow-motion, he controlled his every shot during Bulletstorm and had all his bullets scored headshots.
Without the healing rain from Nowifi, all the players that were trying to surround him were killed by the skill, including Nomodem. While the footsoldiers received large damage. The other World Maker members came then and fought with these footsoldiers.
With most of the barricades gone, the World Maker group advanced to the wall gate. The players from up the wall fired their ranged attacks at them. Ronald threw his evolved Smoke Grenade skill on the ground before him. The resulting smoke covered his body, obscuring him from the enemies. However, his own sight was not obscured. This Smoke Grenade was similar to the dark fog from Arlcard's Sonata of the Night, it blocked enemies' sight but not allies.
Ronald got into Shooting Stance. With the smoke, he was not afraid of getting hit despite staying still. The shooting stance increased his range, allowing him to hit those players up on the wall. He started picking off those players to let his comrades approach the wall gate.
Gridhacker arrived at the gate protected by a couple of sentinels. He took out an item and used it. A battering ram appeared, but it was no normal battering ram. It was several times larger and its ram's log was capped with a metallic end in the shape of a dragon head.
This dragon-head battering ram retracted its ram's log before it abruptly shot forward and rammed into the gate. The force was so strong that the impact sound was heard from miles away. The gate was shattered in a single hit.
Behind the destroyed gate was a group of Offline Beasts' players. They were wide eyes because they would never expect their gate to not be able to withstand even one hit.
While they were dazed, the dragon's head of the battering ram opened its metallic mouth. Before they could react, a stream of fire poured out of the dragon's mouth and washed over them. They received continuous fire damage and burn status. Many died. The rest who were critical soon met their ends when Ronald came through the destroyed gate and finished them off.
"Where the hell are your guild members? The gate is opened!" Gridhacker sent White Death a message. It was pointless if they were the ones destroying the guild core, it had to be Death Associates members doing it to allow them to transfer their headquarters.
"Scarface's team will arrive soon!" White Death replied. Yellow Death's regiment which was originally closer was being held by Jeanny's group. Scarface had his regiment create a gap through the barricade and he advanced through with a small group.
Above the wall, Selena came to where the broken gate was and tried to use her spells to hinder the enemies below, but these World Maker players were not easy opponents. She sent a message to Jeanny informing her of the situation.
Outside the defensive wall of Death Associates' headquarters, Death Hall, Jack and the others stood a healthy distance away. They had just arrived after making their rush. They saw on top of the wall several players on the ready.
"As expected, they know we are coming," John said. "But this lot should only be the weakest bunch who are left behind as reserves. Okay, everyone, gather! Here is my plan. We should be able to finish this battle with minimal loss."
John was squatting and started drawing on the soft ground when Jeanny received the message from Selena.
"Oh, no!" She uttered.
"What?" both John and Jack looked at her.
She was silent, not responding to the two. The two didn't disturb her. After a while, she said, "We need to hurry!"
"Why is that? Don't tell me that Offline Beasts are so incompetent they almost lost by now?" John asked. "Aren't Wicked Witches helping them?"
"They did almost lose, but not because they are incompetent. Death Associates also have help," Jeanny replied.
"Help? Who? My spies don't indicate the other guilds usually associating with them to have sent manpower," John said.
"World Maker," Jeanny told them.
"World Maker?" Jack blurted. "Damn it! So they are in league with those people?"
John was massaging his chin. "Hm... Actually, if it is them, the stunts Death Associates had been pulling in this country make much more sense now."
"How is their progress there?" Jack asked Jeanny.
"The World Maker has breached the wall gate. They were now escorting a Death Associates group on their way to the guild hall. Offline Beasts and Wicked Witches players tried to stop them but it seemed that it is just going to be a matter of time before they breach the guild hall," Jeanny said. "Oh, one more thing. One of the world tournament champions from world maker is there."
"Wong or Ronald?" Jack asked.
"Ronald. The reason why Offline Beasts lose their ground so fast is because of him as well," Jeanny answered.
"Ah, screw it!" John said and wiped the half-drawn drawing on the ground. "No time for finesse anymore. We are going in with brute force! For that, we will utilize our ultimate weapon. Jack! Use your dragon form, fly through the wall, charge into their guild hall, and destroy the guild core with haste!"
"The f*ck?! Isn't that asking me to do all the work?" Jack protested.
"Don't worry, we will follow behind closely. They are also in predicament there, they will try to break the guild core at Offline Beasts' headquarters as fast as possible so they won't be able to send many reinforcements back. We will keep the ones on the wall busy. If they try to chase you, they will have to abandon the wall. If they do, then we will be able to destroy the gate fast and follow you in."
"They have that Hex of Power Restraint, you know? What if they have prepared it? I won't be able to use my skills and spells then."
"That artifact needs time to activate, right?" John asked.
"Yes, one hour," Peniel confirmed.
"Although the time that I estimate they found out about us coming is about one hour also, I doubt they leave that high-grade artifact to the small fries here. It should be in the hand of the higher-ups that are currently battling in Aurebor. Even if they use that artifact, you are already proficient with mana manipulation. With your stats, you should be able to deal high damage even without game skills. Don't tell me you are just afraid to rush in alone?"
"Damn it! Since when did I ever be afraid of fighting alone?"
"Then stop dilly-dallying! Hurry up and transform and fly over there!" John exclaimed.
"Shit! f*ck it!" Jack cursed and used his supreme dragon form. He then flew at high speed towards Death Hall.
