The stage was set, so I took a deep breath. The last time I fought it was merely a game, now if I died, I died for real. The creatures I was about to kill to further my agenda were actually alive, although that didn’t change my decision, I had to at the least acknowledge the fact so that in battle, I would not waver. 

Once my resolve steeled my resolve, I looked at my minions and smirked as the dust clouds came closer. The ground was shook all the more violently than ever as I saw the beasts approach me from all sides. Leading the charge on all sides was a creature much similar to a rhino. It didn’t take long before they were 200 meters out. As they crossed that threshold my trap activated < The pit of a thousand deaths>.

Large pointed metal rods shot out of the earth in places where the ground was weak, impaling many of the beasts. This trap killed many and injured a lot, however, there were still hundreds unscathed. The leaders of the pack saw the damage to the group, causing their fury to burn brighter. They increased their pace all set on killing me and my minions in the middle of them.

However, fifty meters ahead of us, the earth split all around us. It continued to stretch until there was a trench 10 meter deep and 6 meters wide. Inside these trenches were long swords along the walls and the ground. 

The beasts couldn’t feel the tremors of the earth shifting above the force they were creating, however, they could see it. Immediately, they hit the brakes, but they were far too close to the hole and were running too fast to stop so abruptly. One for one the beasts fell into the trenches getting cut by the swords on the bottom and the top. They continued to fall into the hole until it was filled with dead beasts. 

Looking at this site, some beasts broke free from the skill <Draw Aggro> and ran away. In their opinion a being able to set this up was one not to be trifled with. However, there were those and most of them that although <Draw Aggro> no longer influenced them, wanted to kill me. In their opinion, they clogged the hole, now there was nothing to fear, moreover they were 105 beasts of various levels under 15 versus three demons under 15. They weren’t smart, but they knew the math checked out, 105 was greater than 3. 

The eyes of the beasts changed, if you looked closer you could see the vicious nature emerging. It was no longer about killing, this was going to be sport. They wanted us three to suffer the same fear and humiliation they had felt. They planned to kill us slowly, each beast would take one small bite until we died.

I noticed the change in their eyes, but they didn’t notice that my eyes hadn’t changed. I was just as calm as I was in the beginning of this whole showdown. Once they crossed over the bodies, I used all of my mana to activate one of the more advanced traps. 

Immediately a golden ring of fire surged out of the trench and 2 meters in the sky. Any beast alive in there was surely dead now. Shortly after I got the umpteenth [You have levelled up!] message as a result, my mana was back to full and I could deal with the remnants.

I looked up ahead and there were 60 injured monsters left on their way to us. I saw them, but I was fighting my urge to throw up. The smell of burnt flesh hung strongly in the air, effecting my sanity. On the other hand, I hadn’t seen my Ija with a smile wider than this. It was delighting in this scene.

The mangled corpses lying around, the pit of black despair, the creatures on their way to us. It grabbed its sword and charged into them. When I saw this, I swallowed the vomit that came up. I couldn’t let my minion show me up!

I grabbed my axes and charged in after him. The Shadow Imp followed shortly. 

The beasts were running to us and we to them. Once we were 5 meters apart, I activated <Lightning step> as lightning covered my body increasing my speed by 35%. Once we reached each other, I jumped up in the air, coated my weapons with <Lightning Aura> and swung both swords deep into the back of a [ White furred Apex Gorilla, lv 10] that was running on all fours. It continued to run forward, trying to shake me off its back. It eventually got a hold of my leg and threw me across the sky and into the ground. 

Boom! 

I collided with the ground, tumbling about as I tried to regain control of my momentum. Eventually I got up, dusted myself off while ignoring the immense pain of my left ribs and refocused my attention on the Gorilla making its way to me.

However, in the next moment it fell dead to the ground as I saw a small black creature remove its dagger from the side of the gorilla and disappeared back into the shadows from whence it came. Since I had slashed open the originally injured gorilla, it was bleeding profusely. The Shadow Imp’s class [Wraith] allowed it to do more damage to enemies that were bleeding and gained bonuses for killing creatures if they didn’t notice them until their final moments. 

This was what I wanted, I had levelled up sufficiently now I was just acting as support for my minions to level up too. Technically, I could have made a party then added them so that all exp would be shared equally, however, I was so far behind other players they would have to forgive my selfishness … Anyway, I continued to slash open enemies letting my Imp finish them off so they it could receive the full exp amount. 

The Ija, on the other hand, didn’t need much help, unlike the [Wraith], the [Berserker] was a class well equipped to handle multiple enemies. As the Ija levelled up, it required less and less help from me until I left it on its own. With every slash, it fell deeper and deeper into a trance until.

[ Your minion, Ija: Nameless has entered the Berserk state. Str, Dex, and Ag increased by 5 points.]

Once this happened there was a shift in the air around the berserker. It was if the blood in the air was slowly being drawn to him as it unleashed all it buried emotions into the furious swings of its sword slicing everything and anything in its path. Since this was the first time going berserk, it didn’t have much control over it as such, the Shadow Imp and I stayed out of its path.

I continued to cut and pull my axe out of the various beasts making sure not to kill them as the Shadow Imp’s unnoticed assassination streak soared. 

20, 30, 40 50, monsters fell by our hands, yet we continued to fight, the bitter taste of iron in our mouths and clothes dyed in red by the beasts and our own blood. 

I saw my next target up ahead, it was a the kin of a foe I had slayed before [ Star furred monkey, Level 15 ( General)]. It was surrounded by 5 other Star furred monkeys ranging from level 8-12. These ones were smaller than the General as they were merely infantry. 

Currently, these were the strongest minions on the map. The minions the Ija was fighting were only level 5-7 and there were only four of them.

I grasped my axes tightly for the last time and reactivated <Lightning Step>, I also coated my entire body and weapons in <Lightning Aura>. This was something I couldn’t do before but now I had a lot of mana at my disposal.  Once ready, I sped forward and the 20 percent chance to create a lightning after image triggered. 

One of the lackeys, cut into my after image and was stunned for three seconds. This was more than enough time for the Shadow Imp to kill it. Its lifeless body plummeted to the ground shortly afterwards. 

I continued to fight the rest of the four while the (General) lay in wait. I slashed my axe at one of the  monkeys and cut deep into it, as result I was stuck. In the next moment, a strong fist hit me in the stomach causing me to cough up a mouthful of blood. Normally I could dodge it but my muscles were aching as fatigue weighed down on me. Furthermore, all the cuts and bites on my body were beginning to bare their fangs at me, it was no longer something I could ignore.

I knew if I didn’t change something now, I would die!