The Grand Duelist

[Your Party Member, Lilium has succumbed to her wounds and died.] 

"What? How did she die?" Vladimir turned to look at the previous location where he last spotted Lilium.

But he found nothing out of the ordinary.

A solemn look appeared on his face.

"That useless bitch!" Vladimir violently cursed, before sending his orders: "Secure the perimeter around our Healers. Keep those bastards at bay! Especially that Assassin!" 

When Vladimir's order emerged. The players of the Crimson Guild swiftly moved and retreated along with the Main Segment of the 3-3-3 Strategy that they employed.

Facing the players of the Pro-NPC Alliance were the front-liners and tanks of the Crimson Guild.

"Echoes of the Sleepy!" Jun Santos spread his arms and magical runes surrounded his body.

His class, Psychic could be considered as one of the best when it came to large-scale crowd control.

His nasty crowd control skills as the Psychic directly attacked the minds of his enemies, disorienting them and making them unable to discern what was real from fake.

Due to this fact, Vladimir gave explicit orders to his members that they should keep an eye for Jun Santos.

When they saw that magical runes had appeared and surrounded Jun Santos's body. They realized that he was in the middle of casting a spell.

They swiftly sent their attacks towards his direction, intent on stopping him from casting his skill.

[Echoes of the Sleepy] was a large-scale Crowd Control skill that if successfully launched, would place everyone within the vicinity of the magic circle into a state of comatose. Once in the state of comatose, one would be deprived of their senses apart from the sense of sight.

In other words, it would render anyone unable to move, cast a spell, nor attack. It was an extremely terrifying crowd control skill that should be interrupted at all costs.

'But why is Jun Santos casting that kind of a skill which takes too long to prepare?' Vladimir frowned.

It didn't make sense that the renowned Jun Santos would use Echoes of the Sleepy at this time when he clearly didn't have the protection that anyone needed whenever they were casting a spell that required a lengthy preparation.

Yes, that's right.

Jun Santos was completely open! 

As soon as he started his chanting.

The attacks from the members of the Crimson Guild descended upon him!

"Has he gone senile?" Vladimir thought to himself.

But when he saw the confident smile on Jun Santos's face. He couldn't help but feel a bad premonition in his heart.

Nevertheless, Vladimir had to suppress the bad sensation that he was feeling, for he knew that he must stop Jun Santos's channeling at all costs.

The attacks rained down at Jun Santos, yet he remained steadfast in the face of these attacks. 

Just as Jun Santos reached the peak of his channeling.

His figure trembled, and the magical runes that surrounded his body disappeared.

"What?" Vladimir uttered in astonishment, but then his face changed in the next moment.

"Elementalist!"

Vladimir cried out in shock when he found out that behind Jun Santos was a young lady also surrounded by magical runes.

The reason why Jun Santos remained unmoving in the face of the incoming attacks wasn't actually because he had gone senile, but it was because he was protecting his wife, Vanessa behind him who finally completed her chanting and had now begun casting her skill.

And the reason why he began chanting such a powerful skill that couldn't be ignored despite its long cast time was that he wanted to attract everyone's attention unto him, so his wife could chant peacefully.

Jun Santos's showy movements and the brilliant light of the magical runes that revolved around his body also became a cover that protected his wife from the eyes of everyone.

"Ang pinakagwapo kay ang nagsulat! Absolute Zero!"

An enormous magic circle appeared underneath everyone's feet.

Frost materialized in the air and everyone's movements turned sluggish.

[You are in a field of absolute frost.]

[Your Movement Speed, Attack Speed are drastically decreased.]

[You cannot resist.]

In the face of these system notifications.

Vladimir responded with a cry.

"Scatter!"

Before Vladimir could even send his orders, his subordinates had already started moving away from the magic circle. It was because they knew that even without Vladimir's orders.

One must never stay inside the magic circles created by an opposing Magician.

If they do, then there's no possible way for them to achieve victory.

A milky-white light descended and covered the bodies of the players who managed to escape the magic circle in time and didn't directly freeze into ice sculptures.

[You are covered in the light of compassion and grace.]

[You have recovered from your abnormal statuses.] 

[You have recovered a portion of your Health.]

Vladimir glanced at the Healers in gratitude.

Especially at Emily who held Xueyue, Laica, and Braum by herself.

"I didn't expect that Emily would be this good of a player... However, I don't think that she can last that long. Particularly, when that bastard Mervin is picking off our players..." A decisive light flashed within Vladimir's eyes as he gave his orders.

"Sean, you go and assist Wushang." 

Vladimir sent a message to a player who was fighting Eagie and Paula at the same time. 

"Are you sure about that boss? If I left here then these two will have free reign and will be able to wreak havoc." Sean clad in a simple tunic with a gigantic Axe on his shoulder didn't even glance at Vladimir as he pursued his enemies and repeatedly hacked at them with his Axe.

"It's fine, go and help him. You shouldn't really underestimate the average players of the Crimson Guild. They may not be as strong as those players that are within the Universal Rankings, but they are not that bad either." Vladimir replied with a nod.

Sean didn't answer to what Vladimir was saying. Instead, he loudly laughed in front of his enemies.

"Hey, miss beautiful and you, soy-boy... It's such a shame that my boss is sending me far-away when I still want to play with the two of you... But oh, well. Don't miss me too much, just know that if we meet once again. I will definitely hack both of you into pieces with this Axe of mine."

Sean smirked at Paula and Eagie before rushing towards the direction of the Crimson Guild's Healers.

"Do you think that you can escape us that easily?!" Paula, who was a Ranger, readied her bow and drew a bead. But when her fully-charged shot flew towards Sean. The latter merely brandished his Axe behind him and sliced the arrow into two before it could even near or penetrate his back.

"This guy..." Eagie mumbled in shock.

This was the first time that they fought against Sean, yet they already had a deep impression of him.

That guy who didn't seem to care about his life and death was far terrifying than a dozen average players of the Crimson Guild.

He really does make everyone feel a shiver down their spines when they faced him.

"Destroyer... That class really suits him..." Paula uttered.

Their leader, Jun Santos had told them that Sean's class was Destroyer.

A secondary-class that craved destruction... was really suitable for people like Sean who had a few screws loose inside their minds.

"Yeah, it's really terrifying..."

"But now that he's gone. I think we finally have free reign now, right?" Eagie replied in a somewhat scared and timid manner which made Paula chuckle. 

She stretched her hand out, pulled onto his cheeks and said: "You must not be afraid of these bastards, all right? You're a Paladin Off-Tank and you should go and help us relieve some pressure against these retards..."

Her crude language greatly contrasted the angelic smile on her face which made Eagie feel like he didn't know whether to laugh or to cry.

"Uhm... I'll do my best..." Eagie bashfully nodded.

In the face of his wife's teasing. He really couldn't do much about it.

"Okay, all right! You take the front, I'll protect you from the back!" Paula took her bow en garde and Eagie tightly held his flail that had a spiky metal ball at the end.

Afterwards, he rushed to a nearby enemy and went wild.

"Beatdown!"

Eagie grabbed that enemy who tried his best to scream for reinforcements.

But before he could even open his mouth, his face had already caved in from Eagie's fierce attacks.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

A total of five attacks landed on his face and he couldn't be deader than this.

But Eagie wasn't done yet.

In order to impress his wife about how manly he was.

He rushed at another enemy once again, grabbed that poor soul and started beating him up.

Eagie was too absorbed on what he was doing that he didn't notice an enemy Assassin sneaking up behind him.

"Die!"

The player screamed, unfurling his killing intent and sending his dagger directly at Eagie's heart.

But before his dagger could even land on Eagie's body.

An arrow pierced through his temples and made his head explode like a watermelon pounded by a whale...

He couldn't even muster a scream as he collapsed lifelessly on the ground.

Eagie stopped what he was doing and he felt a shiver down his spine when he found out about what just happened.

A trace of fear appeared on his face, but then Paula fiercely scolded him.

"Why are you stopping? Beat him up some more! You don't have to worry about what's going to happen behind you since I am going to support you all this time!" 

Eagie turned to look at his wife with clear hesitation on his face.

"What? You don't trust me?" Paula's eyes narrowed into slits.

"Ermm... It's not that I don't trust you, but this guy's already dead." Eagie glanced at the man that Paula sniped with her arrow. 

"Then, find another guy and beat him up!" Paula scolded.

Eagie bitterly smiled. He then turned to look at the enemy in front of him before beating that poor guy up real good. 

Eagie even released a manly war cry while he was beating the living shit out of the player who soon disappeared into countless light crystals that eventually vanished into nothingness.

"Good! There's another tango in front of you, beat him up!" Paula praised Eagie before gesturing at the enemy not too far away from Eagie.

"Hieeek!" 

The player who saw the cruel death of his comrades instantly ran away when Eagie turned his head to look at him.

But he didn't manage to escape that far...

Paula accurately sniped both of his knees, forcing him to fall onto the ground, unable to move.

"You cannot escape..." Eagie revealed an indifferent expression.

The player screamed as loud as he could as Eagie proceeded on his beatdown.

Paula who stared at all of these from afar revealed a satisfied, yet somewhat glazed expression on her face as she stared at Eagie.

"This is how a man should act... Ruthless, and decisive..."

She chuckled to herself before rushing to support her husband, Eagie.

Meanwhile on top of a nearby hill that overlooked the entire battlefield. Mervin stared in a somewhat complacent manner at the enemy in front of him.

"Oh, you're approaching me?" Mervin coldly uttered.

His hand, hidden by his back clenched a handgun. 

From the two pistols that his enemy held in his hand, it was clear that he was also a Gunner.

But...

'Why is he moving towards me?'

Mervin couldn't understand why his enemy was moving towards him.

A Gunner should fight from a distance, yet hs enemy seemed like he would do the opposite.

However, Mervin's mind remained steadfast in the face of this peculiarity.

He lifted his arm, pointed his gun at his enemy and swiftly pulled the trigger.

Bang!

A loud gunshot rang out, but his enemy didn't move.

A shield appeared on the man's arm and he used that to protect himself from the incoming bullet.

Clang!

The shield pulsated with divine light as the bullet collided against it, sending sparks flying everywhere.

"A Main-Class Specialized Crusader, fused with Gunner taken as a secondary-class..." 

"You're a Crusader Gunner?"

Astonishment could be seen on Mervin's face, but his calm never disappeared.

Instead, an amused smile surfaced on his lips as he said.

"That is indeed an interesting mixture that is not frequently seen..."

"I mean, who would want to fuse a slow-moving Crusader with a Gunner?"

"Although that would make you feel like a tank, a Gunner that has slow movements can be considered as a glass cannon. They are easily focused and once that happened, you might as well uninstall the game."

Mervin mocked.

But his enemy didn't have any reaction to what he was saying.

'So, he's immune to taunting? Hmmph, quite an interesting man. But I don't have time for this. I'll end this as fast as possible!' 

Mervin's eyes flashed in a dangerous light as he bent his knees and retreated backward.

While in mid-air, he brandished his wrist and sent a bunch of objects flying towards the direction of his enemies.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Several loud explosions rang out.

His slow-moving enemy who was a Crusader didn't even bother to move.

He took the brunt of the attack and endured it.

Meanwhile, Mervin who retreated backward made it his goal to widen his distance from his enemy.

After all, Crusaders were known for their prowess of dealing huge amounts of DPS in close-quarter battles.

Not only that, but his enemy also had the Gunner class as his secondary-class...

In other words, he was strong in short and long-range battles. 

Gunners were squishy targets that could be easily killed once focused.

Mervin preferred to fight against a Gunner than a Crusader, so he planned on not letting his enemy get close to him so that his enemy couldn't use his abilities as a Crusader. 

"How troublesome..." Mervin thought to himself.

Crusaders were not only strong in close-quarter combat but they were also tanky and hard to kill.

Mervin predicted that it would probably take him quite a while before he could defeat this Crusader Gunner enemy of his.

He swiftly formulated a plan, but he was shocked to find that his enemy didn't pursue him while he was in mid-air.

Instead, the blinding optic glint of a Sniper Rifle was pointed at him.

At this moment, Mervin's pupils constricted.

He urged his body to move in mid-air, but there was a clear physical limit of what he could do while he was in mid-air.

"Shit!"

When Mervin's senses told him that it was impossible for him to dodge the incoming bullet.

But his mind spun quickly. His arm moved and brandished several grenades in front of him.

Bang!

Gunfire roared and the optic glint of the Sniper Rifle momentarily vanished.

What happened next was a fierce explosion of a single Grenade that sent Mervin flying backward.

"I succeeded!" Mervin inwardly exclaimed and after rolling on the ground for a few seconds.

He finally managed to stand-up, though another incoming attack of his enemy forced him to dodge as soon as he balanced himself on the ground.

"This guy... He's not planning on using his Main Class against me... Does he want to fight me as a Gunner?"

"He's really underestimating me."

Anger flashed on Mervin's face and he abruptly took a handgun out and started blasting.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

His enemy, a Crusader Gunner didn't say anything before he proceeded to rush at Mervin who then retreated backward in order to not let his enemy get close to him.

"He's using his shield again, what the hell does he want to do?"

"Does he want to fight me as a Crusader Gunner or solely as a Gunner? How annoying..." Mervin inwardly cursed.

He fired two shots at his enemy who swiftly raised his shield in front of him so that he could protect himself from the incoming bullets.

Mervin soon found himself near a cliff that would definitely kill him if he falls.

And it was at this moment that a change happened on the battlefield. 

The Crusader Gunner raised his shield, while his other hand raised what looked like a minigun.

Normally, a weapon such as a minigun had enough weight that it was necessary for it to be held by two hands. But the fact that this Crusader Gunner could hold such a heavy weapon with a single hand meant that his stat distributions skewed more on Strength.

But that wasn't the point here...

The point was that as soon as the minigun pointed at Mervin. It started spewing out bullets.

Gatling Gun!

Bullets flew in all directions, creating an impassable net around Mervin which sealed all of his escape routes. The Crusader Gunner also accurately controlled his attack to the extent that his bullets felt like an insurmountable wall that slowly closed in on Mervin, eventually crushing him in between.

The smell of gunpowder and the smoke created by his rapid firing formed a mist that further lowered the visibility in the area.

The darkness of the night exacerbated the lowered visibility, and when the Crusader Gunner was done with his attack.

He noticed that his enemy had vanished from his sight.

What?

Where did he go?

Wait, how did he even escape?

Teleport? No- he's a Gunner, not a mage.

He clearly had his enemy inside his encirclement, yet how did his enemy disappear? Is this the effect of the glorious plot armor of protagonists? 

No, such a thing shouldn't exist. And also, even if he managed to escape.

I don't think that he escaped from my attacks unscathed. 

But just where he was? 

There was only a single possibility!

The Crusader Gunner hurriedly raised his head and there, he found a Mervin whose body was riddled with holes falling towards him.

He's on the brink of death!

The Crusader Gunner exclaimed in delight and he hurriedly fired two shots at Mervin.

But a change suddenly occurred.

A greenish-tube looking weapon was on Mervin's shoulder and the mouth of that weapon emanated a dangerous light that threatened to swallow him whole!

"SHIT!"

The Crusader Gunner exclaimed.

"Fortress of Divinity!" For the first time in his battle. He finally activated a Crusader Skill.

He raised his shield towards Mervin's direction and divine light exploded from him, covering his entire body.

"Heh..." Mervin coldly chuckled. 

"Beam Atomizer!"

A brilliant light of massive destruction burst forth from the mouth of the tube that Mervin held in his shoulders.

A beam made out of light had the speed of light, so it was impossible to be avoided.

This was the reason that the Crusader Gunner decided that it was far better for him to endure the brunt of the attack while using one of his best defensive skills, rather than trying to dodge.

"Grrrrhhh..." The Crusader Gunner spat a mouthful of blood.

The skill, Beam Atomizer directly melted his armor and flesh, causing agonizing pain that if not for the pain sensors that he reduced in intensity. 

He should be crying out in pain right now. 

The Beam Atomizer lasted for a few seconds. The Crusader Gunner intently watched his rapidly dropping Health Bar, and excitement appeared on his face when he realized that although he was on the brink of death right now.

He still has about twenty percent of his Health remaining.

As for Mervin? 

He doubted that Mervin had even five percent of his Health. 

"I've won!"

He returned his shield to his inventory and was about to turn around to find Mervin when suddenly.

"Huh?"

A dagger suddenly pierced through his heart and stuck out of his chest.

"What?"

He uttered, and at the same time...

A mouthful of blood escaped from his throat, drenching the ground crimson.

"You..."

Mervin stood behind him and whispered, "Assassinate."

The Crusader Gunner crumbled onto his knees, disbelief visible on his face as he stared at his rapidly disappearing Health Bar.

"You... How do you have that incredibly rare skill..." 

Mervin merely smiled: "There's a reason why I'm called, the Assassin of the Night."

The Crusader Gunner couldn't believe what just happened.

He was on the verge of victory, but with an attack from a single skill... He had lost and perished!

But the Crusader Gunner had strong mental fortitude.

He acknowledged that he had truly lost in this battle. Even if [Assassinate] was such an unbelievably strong skill that bordered on the realm of cheating. It was still a skill that belonged to Mervin, so in the end. It could be considered as a part of his skill.

And so, the Crusader Gunner replied...

"Heh... Is it because of that Assassinate skill, or is it because you think that you're unpredictable?"

"I don't know..." Mervin shook his head, "You take a guess, you're about to die anyway so I don't mind chatting with you for a moment."

For balancing issues, the skill [Assassinate] gave the player a few precious seconds of respite before their inevitable death.

Mervin thought that the game developers added such a mechanic so that the assassinated ones could have enough time to reminisce about their entire life before their upcoming, certain death.

"I see... Unpredictable, eh? You really kept your trump cards too well... The Crimson Guild didn't have any information about you having such an incredibly rare skill like that Assassinate."

A strange expression appeared on the Crusader Gunner's face. 

Mervin felt a bad premonition in his heart.

But before he could think too deeply about it...

The Crusader Gunner's body finally turned into countless light crystals that soon dissipated into the void.

"Sigh... Finally done, I guess I need to return to base and resupply. I'm about to die here..."

Mervin heaved a sigh of relief, but his vision was suddenly attracted by a green-looking ball sitting on the Crusader Gunner's previous location.

"What is that?"

It was quite hard to see something properly within the darkness so Mervin squinted his eyes while staring at the curious object.

"A green ball?"

"Wait, a green ball?! Shit!"

Bang!

[You died from the hands of MartyrNoble#6021, a player from the guild Crimson.]

"Martyr... Fuck... What is this? Call of Duty?!" Mervin inwardly cursed as his consciousness slowly disappeared.

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