Ding, ding.
The sky above Secret Realm shone majestically. A large text appeared, revealing that the second event would soon start.
[Second Event: Firestorm]
[Firestorm: The circle of fire will surround two forests, and it will continue shrinking until only the caves remain. To survive past this stage, the two duos in those forests must fight and eliminate the other. If there are still two duos remaining when the firestorm reaches the caves, both die]
Ding, ding!
[The Event Starts Now!]
At the last ding, the firestorm appeared and engulfed the entire realm. The trees started burning, turning to ashes, and the beautiful grassy ground started burning away.
A sweat drop trailed down Zachary's face as he watched the scorching fire burning their forest away.
Isaac stood outside the cave, looking in the direction of where the firestorm had ended. As the text said, the nearby forest seemed to be their opponent. The firestorm circled around them like a circle of death, closing in quickly.
"Zachary, I think we should—"
Bang!
Isaac stepped back, and a sharp projectile flew right past his face. Without stepping backward, the bullet would have made a significant hole in his skull!
At the neighboring forest.
A cold-faced man adjusted his glasses while squinting his eyes. He held a long sniper rifle with a scope. He lay on top of a large tree branch. Below him was his dark-haired teammate.
"Go." The cold-faced man said with his usual emotionless tone.
"Right…" The dark-haired man said with a roll of his eyes. Spending time with this cold-toned person hadn't been fun. It was like talking with a brick wall or watching the paint dry. Maybe even those were more enjoyable.
The dark-haired man extended his hand, and a blade appeared on his hand. The edge curved slightly downward, and the blade looked quite spiky. Some people could mistake it for a spine taken from some small animal.
While the cold-faced man continued firing his gun, the dark-haired man entered their enemy's forest, rushing straight to the cave with one intention, to bring them a nightmare.
"They are coming," Zachary said while hiding inside the cave.
Isaac stood next to him, nodding, "Footsteps are nearing, which means he isn't the sniper. Can you take care of him while I will kill the sniper?"
"Sure, but can you do it?" Zachary asked with the curve of his lips.
"Not sure." Isaac pulled out his Mosin-Nagant Sniper Rifle, surprising Zachary.
"Oooh, you can use your weapon? Sneaky." Zachary grinned slightly.
"Stop playing around. I know you can too." Isaac glanced at him, showing that he knew everything he had hidden.
Zachary innocently smiled and shrugged his shoulders, "Who knows…"
"Whatever…" Isaac shook his head and placed his finger on the trigger. As the footsteps grew nigh, he jumped out of the cave, aiming the barrel toward the incoming man.
However, as soon as he blinked, everything turned dark. At a depth of the darkness, a skeleton-like Centipede with thousands of kilometers of length coiled around the enormous mountain, breaking it apart!
"W-What am I seeing?" Isaac couldn't believe that this was real. The Centipede made him remember one of his scariest memories, the thing that hid deep below the Forest of Unknown.
Bam!
Then, Isaac got knocked off his feet as someone tackled him from the side. After crashing on the ground, the darkness disappeared, and the sky with a layer of dark smoke revealed itself.
"Wraith, wake up!" He heard Zachary's voice.
"Urgh…" Isaac rubbed his head and turned to Zachary. To his utmost surprise, Zachary currently fought against a dark-haired man, blocking his blades with black-colored claws.
"W-What happened?" Isaac staggered to his feet. He was still trying to rearrange his thoughts.
Zachary smashed his foot on the dark-haired man's chest, pushing him a few steps back.
"I am not sure, but as soon as you stepped out of the cave, you stopped moving and muttered something odd!" Zachary said and swung his black-colored claws at the dark-haired man. As the weapons clashed, the sparks flew, and the ground cracked.
"It was… illusion?" Isaac frowned, 'Trickster?'
The dark-haired man gritted his teeth as he got pushed backward again, "Why are my nightmares not working on you?"
"Oh, so that's your ability." Zachary grinned, "Lucky me… your ability is to create visions of nightmares that would make your enemies paralyzed. Quite powerful, but unfortunately, my ability is the perfect counter for that!"
Bang!
A loud bang reverberated in the distance.
Isaac jumped behind the tree. The bullet barely grazed the bark and flew till it collided with the flame wall that engulfed the forests.
"Take care of this sniper!" Zachary shouted and smashed his fist across the dark-haired man's face.
After getting hit by the clawed fist, he staggered backward and tried to create nightmare illusions one more time. However, nothing worked on Zachary. It was like he didn't have any fears!
Zachary continued slashing with his claws, creating more wounds on the dark-haired man's torso. The Health Bar continued decreasing rapidly.
"What is that fool doing?" The cold-faced man snorted under his breath, feeling disappointed at his weak teammate.
Isaac knelt on the ground and picked up a tiny pebble. It was barely a size of a thumb. After rolling the pebble on his palm, he flicked it over to the left side. However, as soon as the pebble went airborne, a loud bang resounded, and the bullet cut through it like it was ripe cheese.
The pebble was the same size as the bullet, but it was still destroyed by the sniper's inhuman accuracy.
However, Isaac's face didn't change. A dead calmness shown in his eyes displayed his everlasting confidence in his own abilities. The past year was long, filled with dangerous adventures and moments.
During that time, Isaac continued honing his sniper skills. While most of the time he spent fighting via close quarters, it wasn't because he was better than long-ranged. It was actually the opposite, he did that for practice.
Before that, he spent over half a year fighting long-ranged. At one time, there was a rumor of Deadly Sniper that roamed in the City of Priesthood. No one knew his identity because no one could see him. They only fell dead.
Isaac's true ability bloomed during those harsh times, and his skills with the sniper rifle could be considered godly.
