To Strike While the Iron is Hot

 

 

Whoooosh!

A sharp wind resounded above the heads of the confused, 'mentally' hurt and victimized players that just a few dozen seconds before were having the time of their lives with even some excitement to it, as they fought with an army of kamikaze skeletons. As much as they felt like the hero's army, protecting Main Kingdom and its beauties, history as well money, it was nothing in comparison to the epicity of small 'nuclear' bombs falling down on their enemy's lines as their own people were being turned into nothingness as they were just slightly touched by it.

Thud

And in one set of swift movements, bodily weight control and with the expertise of a master, a body fully, entirely clothed of an incredible -seductive for females, somewhat- tight suit which had some flora design to it specially because of the root-like pattern around the whole bodysuit and those thorn-like reversed teardrops on the suit's back-body; and if that wasn't shocking or innovating enough, its one and only color was that of blackberry, of a dark-somber blackberry at that. Well, its teary thorns could be considered to be pitch-dark with some violet gleam on the tip but, other than that it was fully blackberry in color. Even the user's head was completely concealed so perfectly well by this tight bodysuit.

Yes, Tongqiu had deactivated the 'free-mask' addon that his gauntlets would so carelessly give him the chance to turn on and off.

After fortunately pondering about his future endeavors, he recognized an enormous, scary and monumental possibility which he, at all costs, deeply wished to avoid. That is... people's naming sense.

He. Did. Not. Wanted to become the players and even NPCs -taking into consideration how lifelike they are, first class experience according to lewd Tongqiu- object of crazily giving names to, as he was going to make more and more appearance were these kind of things occurred, specially if he was to help his women to level up faster instead of taking a slow, torturous method. Even if it was already useless for him, or if it took his time... it wasn't that much, but it was one way for a gamer to show their appreciation, right?

In any case, he didn't wanted to be given 'titles' or 'nicknames' as he went on to do things, even if some of those were nice enough and all that. If he already felt his eyes tingling by being called 'Big Brother Wolfy' by a certain little pure immortal, cough; then having it from some strangers would make him go crazy!

As such, he decided to let anyone know his stupid, silly name of Tongqiu. Without a care if some people would realize who he was, after all, those matter from the past were habitually concealed by all of the 13 Clans themselves...

"I-is that, the person who...?"

"Tong-qiu? Huh... dafuq? What is even that?"

A nearby player that heard that, rolled his eyes as he turned his head to speak to that person: "Don't you know, you idiot? Ugh, it's basically..."

"Oh, wow, if he invites me for dinner then I could easily forget his wrongdoings, hehe." A charming voice sounded out too, and it wasn't the only one.

"Bah, let it go, as if he'd invite you for dinner, slut!" Another female voice responded to that previous one.

"Eh, you don't understand. He'll be inviting me for dinner, but the dinner is me, he'll eat me up all damn night! Hee~."

Everyone nearby: ⚆ _ ⚆ ⚆ _ ⚆ ಥ_ಥ ಥ_ಥ ಥ_ಥ

Even Tongqiu: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

"E...e-ehem!" After taking their attention once again, this time for good, Tongqiu took a deep, freezing breath into his stomach before continuing: "Now that you are hearing me, then let me tell you... I'll only say this once, you're not capable of taking these Com-ah, 'Obelisks' down. And even if you're being hella paid for it, you should understand you're all being scammed, right? In any case- I don't care, but if I encounter you guys again while I'm completing this quest; trying to take advantage of what I'm doing, I'm just gonna blast you off."

At the moment he was about to mention the vital problem of this whole ordeal, them being scammed and those things being mere Basic Communication Devices, Tongqiu suddenly remembered about the voices and hence, thought that some of those dog-like players would be around the crowd... if it was that so, then he wasn't willing to let those 'beasts' know about the veracity of these things, lest they start to do or scheme some shady shit with the players on tow.

If all those ranged and magical classes managed to successfully hit him, he may really just die in 2 seconds or so, and though he wasn't scared, he wouldn't welcome it with open arms for no reason. At least not now, he was still not capable of taking hundreds of players on his own without being brutally bombarded down into oblivion, he had to take care of Rosey.

And thinking about Rosey, ever since she entered her White Space, he's gotten the 'need, urgency and even desire' for using his most beautiful, purest white to gently envelop his essence around her, and calmly 'nurture' her with it. He hasn't done nor try it as that feeling was utterly unknown to him and didn't know if it'll cause some changes in Rosey of any form, like memory problems, personality change and so on. Even if it was to wake her up sooner or to make her stronger, as he didn't care. He only wanted his Rosey to be with him, and be well, nothing else.

But he would also never doubt his instincts, so after thinking this much for a while, he decided -just then, in the middle of an ongoing massive battle- follow his heart and desires, to envelop her with his purest white essence. Who knew if it'd be something good and nice, instead of just growing stronger and the like?

Just as he seemingly got lost in thoughts for about 4 seconds, well, that alone was enough for some people to become aware of the vulnerability of this man here, right in front of them and defenseless, carrying an incredible weapon himself... why not?

It was at this exact moment where, Edorn's misleading, corrupting words were already spread among the raids. The faces of the players all surrounding Tongqiu changed, mostly for the worst while merely a dozen or so were for the best. With most of them being smitten dummy girls thirsting for Tongqiu, ah.

At the rearguard of the battling army, the ranged and magical classes were sneakily glancing at one another as they tugged at each other with their arms so as to garner the attention of their comrades, they were even slightly murmuring stuff like 'hey, heard 'bout it? If we attack him...', 'those on the left are already closing in, a little bit more of time and...' as well as 'let's take the chance... once we do, everyone else will follow!' and even 'but we must kill him before those big shots arrive, take down that man and take the bow! He doesn't deserve it!!'.

Though humanity was showcasing its beauty at its best, there were some of that more or less dozen people making slight gestures with their hands and expressions, even foolishly flinching their heads a little every now and then. They were nice, not helpful, but of bona fide nature as well as intentions.

All of this; happened as Tongqiu still had his head lowered, such a scene took place for at least half a minute. Those in the far left had already arrived to the utmost right of the 'Journeyer's Army' as the small amount of people were incredibly anxious as well as despairing. With a couple dozen more seconds, they could initiate their 'sneak' attack and then start 'fighting for the treasure'!

"Hm, well. Anyways, want to play?"

Tongqiu's sudden, calm voice resounded. At that instant, every single hostile player -literally, almost everyone- had already started confirming position and skills of all kinds to entrap this bastard, when they heard him speak out, their own very hearts became cold as even a freezing bucket full of nothings slapped at their backs, making them all go stupid and dull.

While they were struck senseless, Tongqiu made a sweep with his left hand, immediately after, a few stones were shoot from his general position as they each flew towards the dozen or so people who more or less tried to aid him. There were exactly two incredible small stones going for each person. While one of them was of higher volume and seemed much more weighty than the other, it was much more faster than the smaller one as it arrived right behind that person's body before being abruptly shot away once again, this time by the smaller stone. With such absurd control, the small stone took inertia into moving at fast speeds towards the nape of said people as they soundly fainted right after.

While each of them seemed to 'collectively' choose to faint so as to not partake in this dishonest situation, successfully being ignored or cast aside by others, Tongqiu's left hand sweep made them the other players nervous and alert instead.

What they didn't know however, was that his doings were actually so as to take in those few people into his White Space, albeit not the same manner that Tonkia or Natalia could do it. He put them in a type of 'storage' which he also used for items he had no the space to storage in his own bag, just like times before. They were also in the 'fainted' state and along with the White Space being his own property, he could 'let' them enter into a Sleep effect as much as he wanted. Of course, he wouldn't make someone die in real life by mistakenly forgetting about them, he could always sense someone's movements inside his White Space so even if they somehow woke up, he'll notice first hand more than anything- as it was situated right at the center of his head, so as to speak.

"W-w-what?!?!"

"How did he...?"

"It must be that bow-w-w!... Someone, someone- just- ATTACK HIM!!"

"AAAAGGRR! FOR OUR BROTHERS AND SISTER!!"

"AVENGE OUR PEOPLE!!"

"Die, you BASTARD!"

'Ugh, seriously, people are such a headache. No wonder they're so easily led by some little wording and promises, fuckers. I'll show you... I'll show you why power is what you should've feared. This is no New Earth...' As Tongqiu's thoughts started as a comical mocking of recent, just then, events. They 'strangely' became somber and somewhat derisive on the 'I'm gonna hurt you' kind of side, when reaching the end of his thinking, it was unexplainable even for himself! But he brushed it aside as he turned his head to look directly at each of his sides.

His extremely calm yet extremely fierce eyes swiped around every single one of them, in a sense. Even when his eyes were covered in a glowing light violet color, they still properly emanated Tongqiu's own uniqueness in the matter. Those oh so patient Star Elite even stopped moving, as if their commander was enjoying such stupidity and false bravery.

'Hmph.' Tongqiu snorted and made a spontaneous grin which disappeared just as fast as it came to be, it was a rather high-toned snort and to be fair, it seemed somewhat cheerful even. It was not- however, involuntary, as it has been before.

His eyes widened a little more as he, instead of materializing his essential weaponry, took out his dual Sunfacing Brilliant Gladiuses. With his eyes now covered by that light violet glow, they seemed somewhat unspoken of, somewhat derisive of life, somewhat... Evil.

Tkch-shinnn!

As if a switch was hit on, Tongqiu's figure lowered a little as his previous clear image in the eyes of the onlookers, became an irritating-to-look-at blur as it moved towards his left. Noises of his blades cutting through bones, flesh and even armor and clothing resounded, there wasn't an abrupt out-of-this-world explosion by each hit as it instead was replaced by the horrifying sounds of their 'so-beloved' comrades being taken down, many by many, each moment.

"Fuuuck- HERE, KILL H-"

Bvreee-Vwlsht

Tongqiu was once again reminded of the sound he heard back when that little archer guy tried going after him, 'PingPong Master', that moment when the use of his instincts gave Tongqiu such a fright and mesmerizing surprise as if he just then discovered a new world. Ha! How foolish, that he got into such a state from his own self, was really foolish, as it not?

In any case, this was Tongqiu's own self-absorbed state of mind as he heard those sounds over and over again from all this people that, just like that guy back then, tried to take him down for no real, consistent reason; merely acting on one's own twisted train of thoughts and satisfaction or rather, lust for achievement.

-2,430, -2,430, -5,224, -5,225, -2,430, -2,870...

Tongqiu's physical power alone was enough to insta-kill all ranged and magical classes, except for a few Apprentice Elementalists or Archer Expert which naturally had a much more abundant vitality than even some melee classes.

His Critical Hits and Pierce Attacks were ever more constant as his Battle Frenzy's stacks also kept increasing. If there was a skill in particular that Tongqiu wasn't particularly happy with, besides the useless Unparalleled Angle, then it was Battle Frenzy. If he could just, by any reasoning, be capable of evolving such a skill and if by some sort of dogshit luck he managed to evolve into an entirely passive skill instead... Mm, Tongqiu's own senses were focused on that thought, without realizing what kind of effect it would have for the future or even the near future at that.

***

 

"B-b-BOSS! You have to help us! Please, hurry up! This monster is killing everybody!"

Edorn's face was slightly contorting as he heard one of his informants speak of the situation, which had already unfolded, while also shamelessly asking him for their help.

'How laughable, you think that after all that silence right after I spoke to you guys, that I wouldn't notice something? Heh, since you thought you could scheme against me and even worst, against MY own divine armament, do you really thought that I-I-that I wouldn't even kill you myself?! FUCK!' Edorn's own thoughts were so, but he would obviously only show a disappointed and 'hurt' countenance all while shaking his head, as he responded with the voice that 'the better person' would use: "Sigh, I understand boy, do your best to wait even... even if you have to run away into the skeleton army... as long as you and everyone else's can protect their own lives, it'd be worthy! Please, keep yourselves alive until we reach the battlefield! I promise you, we'll save you!!"

On the other side of the call: "..."

Everyone nearby: "..."

Right after speaking, not even caring whether or not that person had already died or was simply left stunned out of abandonment, his hands made some kind of gesture while being swept downwards. Right after, there was a change in the buffing from Sorcerers and Shamans' skills as they either disappeared completely or became dimmer in magical power...

When everyone else nearby saw these developments, they obviously took it that they were now punishing all of those greedy, idiotic bastards and that their arrival would easily take even more time, ah.

However, that was not their one and only first thought. At first, when they saw the buffs clearly start dissipating, they rather felt that this was incompetency and looked towards Edorn. They saw him be somewhat unaware yet with a face expressing struggle and even despondency. They then thought, 'could they have ran out of MP? That can't be right? They opt to have many MP potions, right?' but then, when they gave it a real thought; they realized that it was most likely some sort of miscommunication... whether or no it was they themselves just trying to convince themselves, the name of the Ross Clan appeared in their minds all the same.

While some others, like Sylda and Kalen easily realized this not-so-fat fuck's bastardly intentions. Of course, they did not care as they were kindly warned by Tongqiu beforehand, well- only Kalen and not kindly, really. Even then, not having their entire manpower plummeting down in overall strength was a good thing, and by the time this finished, to level up with one another would give them a clear advantage here and there. It did seemed rather advantageous for them, as long as the didn't fucked up and commandeered well their groups, it'll be enough to get far from this operation alone.

Hell, they'd even give up on taking 'Obelisks' and instead go after self-improving, who knows, maybe this lunatic may be able to unlock the Demons into the picture and give everyone else a chance at facing them off. That without mentioning the Experience given once all this was over.

***

 

After having been played for a little, the players seemed to have come to some kind of agreement as most melee classes went full ahead of Tongqiu only to end up retreating abruptly out of nowhere, leaving a big space for Tongqiu to feel a little alone for a while.

'Oh, full barrage of attacks, is it? Heh~, it's not time yet to go full out at you guys, don't force me.' Deciding to not become 'nothing' and easily escape from such 'well' schemed and shady trap, Tongqiu this time took his essential weaponry, inciting fear into the hearts of all onlookers as they feared for dear life. Yes, they had already come to terms of being brutally used as meat shields but... the bow... THE BOW!

If they could somehow survive within the humane barricade that was planned for the skeleton army instead of 'this', then once this bitch was put down to the floor, if they were the closes to them then... wouldn't they have a better chance at grabbing it?!

Though their eyes had fear, excitement and greed engulfed that ever present fear as their bodies trembled not from losing a level and possible one equipment, but rather, because of the disgusting act they had already went through to entrap this man as well as their inner thoughts of kicking him while he's down. It was a rush of excitement that for most, was either stimulating their depraved inner self or created a never-ending amount of momentary worry and sense of corruption. Whatever the case was, no one stopped their movements as they all did their best to fuck dear little, innocent Tongqiu up.

"Oh nooooo! What am I to dooooo? Waaaaaaah! Heee-eee-eee-eee-elp! Soooooommmmmebadeeeeeeeyyyy-wuuhuuuhuuuu..."

Suddenly, Tongqiu started acting his 'so very well' pitiful appearance, his abandoned and heartaching dismantled heart out in a tear provoking, nail-eating manner.

 

...