Avilien: Tutorial islands

He's mine

Quiet and on alert, Luke, Cissy, and Nagori kept weapons at the ready. Luke took point, behind him was Cissy accompanied by Zeult on her shoulder. Nagori behind her had Split covering the rear. Luke wanted to ensure Nagori's safety, which made her blush. If she was safe then she could keep all of them safe.

Following the chocolate river with its strange chocolate salmon that leapt out of the water, the group had come across no other creatures. Every rustle of a bush or tree had them twitching. In enemy territory anxiety was high.

"Help! Someone help! For the love of god help me!" cried a voice from deep within the thick trees. A young boy was in trouble. Instinctively, Luke wanted to dash ahead as they all stood still looking in the direction of the cries.

"Don't go," hissed Zeult with a flick of his three tongues.

"We can't just abandon someone in trouble," claimed Luke as he looked back at Zeult.

Eager to rush off through the trees, Luke remained still. He tried to look as deep as he could through the dense foliage but couldn't spot anyone.

"It'z a quest giver. The quest leadz to Meringue. Accepting it will alert the enemiez in Meringue to our presenze," explained Zeults middle head.

"It's your call, Luke. You're the leader," said Cissy.

Hating the predicament, Luke gritted his teeth. If he helped they lost any chance of a surprise attack and made it hundreds of times more difficult.

"I don't want to ignore it. But, we need to rescue our friends. Quest givers respawn so it will be okay." Luke sighed and turned from the direction of the screams and cries for help. This moment would haunt him.

Onward, following the caramel path, the cries died out and were replaced by chirping birds. Twenty or so minutes after the group arrived at the forest clearing with Meringue walls in sight at the bottom of the valley.

A hilly slope with a path cutting through the fields led to the open main gates. The group took swift action and stayed hidden amongst the tree line. From there they scouted the enemy. Indeed there were forces, a lot of red players. Most level two as Mock had claimed. His information had been reliable. Candy cane gates were closing as guards began to patrol the outer walls. More were on the walls messing around and lounging in the battlements. All previous damage done by Zeult had respawned and repaired itself.

From what Luke could see, there was no way to sneak through or around. the road to Ice was in Meringue, meaning they had to break through enemy forces. Going out in the open left them easy pickings for range classes.

"Thiz iz were we depart," hissed Zeult as he slithered off Cissy and dropped to the ground.

No one questioned the game guide as he slithered into the open and followed the road heading towards the town. Instead, they waited.

"What good is a snake going to be against all that?" quizzed Split.

They all wondered the same, but this was Semors guide. Zeult drew closer than he did before the last time he was there. Slithering along the caramel slabs he waited for the enemy to take note of his red nameplate. Players rushed along the walls as the gates cranked open, even after just shutting. More red players rushing out with weapons in hand.

Luke glanced at the quick assortment of petrified faces and could see that there were melee classes. Bulky armoured players must have been tank classes and they wielded huge weapons. Behind them were players with daggers and fist type weapons. They must have been assassins or druids. That left, hunters, warlocks, mages, and healing druids on the walls.

Volleys of arrows rained down on Zeult as he magically grew taller than the highest building in the town, a repeat performance of days past. Screams could be heard as Zeult began to devour any players outside of the walls. Running open jaws over the battlefield and deleting them. Wanting to stop Zeult and the unnecessary onslaught Luke had no choice but to let it continue. It saved them the effort of having to fight them all.

Zeult understood more than what the group behind did as he finished gobbling down more players. With a rattle of his tail, he belted it against the wall to the left and sent it towering down into pieces. He gave the kids an opening as he drew all enemy forces to him.

"Move now, quick. Through the wall that Zeult broke," ordered Luke as he dashed out of hiding and down the hill into the grassy fields.

Cissy, Nagori and Split followed after, four of them mad dashing it down the grass. No one but Luke spotted what happened next as Zeult battered down more of the wall and headed inside the town. A golden spear shot down from the heavens, aimed at Luke who adjusted his positioning as the spear hit the ground and shot dirt into the air with how powerful the blast was. It sounded like a bomb went off and sent Luke rolling to the side with a small portion of his health stripped away.

"What in blazes was that?" screamed Cissy as she gazed at the deep hole where Luke once stood.

Fingers pushing up his glasses a scrawny, dark-haired man walked across the rubble of the wall and towards the group as Zeult went crazy inside the town. Dressed in black pants with a white shirt half-untucked the player named Nook summoned another golden spear to his right hand. This was the astral hunter Mock mentioned.

"So, you're not the dark mage? Who are you four?" Asked Nook as he stopped and assessed the group.

"It doesn't matter who we are. We're here for your boss," spoke Luke.

"You were quite fast to dodge my attack. Speed will do nothing though, the four of you can gladly see Damocles when I take you in." Luke said nothing to Nook in response. The attack Nook previously launched wasn't just dodged. Luke had tried to parry and slice through it. No one saw how quick his reflexes were, including Nook.

"This is one of Damocles' top guys. Let me take him," said Split as he moved to the side of Luke.

Luke weighed up the difference in abilities, skills, gear, and level. Split was at a huge disadvantage. Any of the group besides Luke were.

"Make sure you win," said Luke as he patted Split on the shoulder.

Luke moved forward and Nook shot another astral spear in his direction. Not needing to move the group watched as Split conjured a clone of himself and took the blow from the spear. Now he had Nook's attention or so he thought. Luke, Cissy, and Nagori attempted to move ahead. Nook wasn't having any of it as he leapt into the air and rained down a barrage of smaller astral arrows at the moving group. None landed a direct hit as Split conjured more clones and timed their intervention perfectly. In doing so he lost half of his mana bar but had allowed the others to escape and enter through the broken wall.

"Do I have your undivided attention now, four-eyes? Let's do this. I'm going to beat the hell out of you. You, who doesn't remember me. You took Mellow away from me." Split started to stretch his arms and then smiled. "Today I get him back."

"I don't recall every useless player I strip of game guides. A clever skill you have. Don't recall fighting anyone able to use clones like that." Nook landed on the grass and began to charge another of his abilities, Greater Astral Spear.

"Well, I trained, and now I'm going to send you to the underworld. I'd like to delete you but that would go against all I believe in."

"Tryit you little brat." Nook launched his giant spear and Split prepared a counter.