They met at the entrance of Frostpeak Ridge.
Ryven was already there, when he spotted Zack heading over with four others beside him.
Zack stopped a few steps away. "Alright, quick intros."He gestured to his side. "Haze. Obi. Iris. Point."
Haze gave a short nod. Obi lifted a hand. "Yo."
Point stayed a step behind, also giving a nod watching the exchange without saying a word. Whereas Iris offered a small smile.
Zack turned back to them. "Ryven, Keth, Liora."
"Got it," Keth said, already eyeing their gear.
Liora smiled lightly. "Nice to meet you."
Ryven frowned slightly. "So… what's the plan?"
At first, he thought Zack wanted to grind together with them. But now, he knew Zack had other plans, since party mode only supported five players and together they were eight.
In raid mode, experience would be heavily reduced and shared by everyone, making it pointless to grind that way.
Of course, raids did have their perks; no need to pick up drops manually, with everything handled automatically through loot distribution but even that didn't make it worthwhile.
Zack didn't answer right away.
He thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Not yet. Just follow."
That only raised more questions.
Ryven, Keth, and Liora exchanged looks, clearly confused. Even Obi shot him a sideways glance, muttering something about unnecessary secrecy.
Point, on the other hand, didn't question it. By now, she knew the pattern.
Whenever Zack went quiet and moved like a man on a mission, it meant one of two things: he either had a brilliant plan… or he had spotted something shiny and was about to ruin it for everyone.
Zack set the formation quickly. He stayed on as sub-leader and handed leadership to Haze, loot distribution set to leader gain.
The trio were completely lost at that point, but before they could argue, Zack was already moving.
And then the grinding started.
Frost Wolves burst from the snow in a wide arc, claws scraping ice as they fanned out.
Zack raised his staff as cold snapped through the air.
Ice Lance II —
— 1,284 Damage (Critical)
A shard of ice punched through the center of the pack before lightning tore through the rest in violent flashes. Smoke curled up from the snow.
Blue-white current raced along Zack's arm, skipping wildly around the staff.
Frost Wolf defeated.
EXP +20
Keth finally moved, shield slamming into the ground as he took the charge of tanking. Two wolves crashed into him and rebounded.
Obi stepped past his shoulder, as he brought his mace down hard. Bone cracked as the wolf skidded across the ice and didn't get back up.
[Celestial Chains I — Activated]
Light tore up from the frozen ground as holy chains materialized, binding three wolves together.
Their movements slowed instantly.
Keth and Obi held the front with ease. The rest poured damage in without restraint.
Magic Arrow whizzed through the air, punching clean through a Frostfang Wolf's skull.
Before the body even hit the ground, Point's magic tore overhead.
Ember Explosion detonated across the wolves flank.
BOOM.
Fire rolled outward in a violent surge.
– 1412 HP
– 1398 HP
– 1436 HP
Burning fur. Snarls turning to yelps.
Liora stepped forward, her staff flaring, as if saying 'Think you can beat me?'
Flaming Ballista - II
Continuously launches flaming ballistics toward the target dealing 200% fire damage (2 shots per target. Max 3 targets.)
Three condensed lances of fire formed in the air behind her—
THOOM.
Each projectile slammed into a separate wolf with crushing force.
– 1821 HP (Critical)
– 1087 HP
– 1009 HP
The wolves were blasted off their feet. One dropped on impact and burst into fragments of ash.
Haze was already into stealth.
Shadow Current - I
Dark energy ripped through a surviving wolf as she appeared before it.
– 3403 HP (Critical)
– 507 HP ( Venom Edge)
Venom Edge – II ( Assassin's Exclusive )
MP 60 | CD 60s.
Effect: On hit, applies Poison for 6 seconds. Poison deals 50% Physical Attack per second.
Against Boss- Poison stacks up to 5 times.
(At maximum stacks, deals 150% Physical Attack per second.)
Her damage numbers were absurd thanks to her new buffs and equipment's.
Backstab - II
– 1944 HP
Dual Strike – II
MP 20 | CD 8s
Strikes in rapid succession | First Hit: 100% Physical ATK | Second Hit: 200% Physical ATK.
– 1244 HP
– 2344 HP
The last two wolves were split cleanly, collapsing before they could even howl.
We made the right call, Ryven thought, watching as another pack dropped.
Iris didn't even bother casting heals as there was no need.
The party was simply… broken.
After more than an hour of nonstop combat—
They heard sounds of explosion and players shouting.
Zack slowed, he had reached the location, but his mind was finding the reason for the sound, there was no monster to grind around the boss vicinity, though there might be players here and there but they mostly avoided each other.
That alone was enough to put him on edge as he edged forward, skidding over the snow. Their raid exchanged a brief look with each other and went towards the direction of the sound.
Snow compressed under their boots as they moved along the mountain's edge. A hard wind swept across the ridge, carrying the noise more clearly now.
They turned the corner.
Below them, multiple players were fighting across an open stretch of snowfield.
"Hide," Zack said immediately.
He slipped behind a jutting Ice rock.
Detect.
His teammates nodded and scattered into position, each taking separate cover along the ridge. There was a visible spark of interest among them as they settled in to observe.
Below, the fight intensified.
Then a bright amber light materialized at the center of the battlefield.
A second later, meteor shards broke from the glow and tore downward toward the players below, slamming into the ongoing clash.
***
Two full raids.
Thirty players on each side.
The white terrain was already carved apart by craters and churned snow.
Flames coiled around a mage's staff as he hurled fire spell after spell without pause like a maniac. His robes were charred and frayed at the tips, and ash stuck to his hair and skin.
Passive – Pyromancy II
Fire Damage +20%, range of fire skills increased by 10%. Gain +10 HP and +20 Mana per Fire Skill Learned.
Defenders stood in front of him in a tight formation, shields raised, intercepting arrows and charging melee players. Behind them, priests rotated healing spells keeping the front line intact.
But the opposing raid was far from weak.
At the center of the opposing formation stood a spear user who had already one-shot several of their squishier players.
His stance was calm, calculated; every swing of his spear came with high damage. Anyone watching could tell this was a deadly player.
The problem wasn't just his damage. It was the range of his skill.
A spear materialized behind a mage on CheckMyFire's side—
Phantom Impale - II
A spectral spear shot forward and pierced through as if they were paper. The mage burst into fragments.
– 1727 HP
Seeing that CheckMyFire raised his staff.
Chaos Explosion - II
100% Magic Damage.
On impact → Explosion: 500% darkness Damage.
The condensed beam tore across the field towards the spear user, SpearSovereign but a defender stepped forward with a activated damage-mitigation skill.
The explosion swallowed him.
But even that was not enough to save him, only drops were left behind after snow and steam disappeared.
The mage cursed... he tried to one shot that spear user but that bastard also had his own defenders protecting him.
The field was in utter chaos as random skills were cast each second and the battlefield glowed and darkened at the same time, flames rising, frost spreading, steam lifting into the air as damage numbers flashed above collapsing players.
Archer were constantly spamming their skill's whereas assassin users were going for squishy kills.
The mage finally spoke.
CheckMyFire: "F*. We were here first. So leave the f* out before I burn you to a crisp."
The spear user let out a short laugh.
SpearSovereign: "I made the character first. By your logic, I think you should leave the fk out of this server before I skewer you in front of your trash guild?"
A pulse of heat rolled off CheckMyFire as his temper snapped.
His grip tightened around his staff, knuckles whitening. A faint red glow crawled up the shaft as mana surged through it.
"You're so dead."
He began casting.
A bright amber light formed above him.
Meteor Strike
300% Fire Damage | 100 MP | CD: 5 min
Launches small meteor shards at target location.
Dozens of compact meteor fragments formed overhead and descended.
Seeing that, the spear user didn't retreat.
Instead, he stepped forward and pulled his teammates behind his back.
Overlord Extension
Duration: 10s. CD: 5min.
Weapon grows to 5m | +100% Damage | Weapon becomes indestructible
His spear extended violently from 1.8 meters to nearly five.
Then—
Cyclone Hurl - II
Throws a Spinning weapon in given direction. Duration 3 seconds.
150% Physical Damage | 50 MP | CD 15s
The massive spear spun so fast it blurred.
Meteor shards slammed into it—
Thud. Thud.
Not a single shard broke through. Each meteor shattered and crashed into the snow.
But other players within the skill radius weren't so fortunate.
– 1639 HP
– 1844 HP
CheckMyFire's expression twisted in frustration. Even though they were losing, he preserved his ace skill, hoping the enemy would exhaust their abilities and he could finally finish them with it; however the spear user had countered it cleanly.
Observing that the spear had reverted back to its original size, the mage quickly began to cast another spell, which, while not as powerful, was still better than nothing.
Yet, before he could finish his incantation, four Assassins appeared behind him, zeroing in on the priests and mages and dispatching them with a single strike.
Four priests fell, leaving only two remaining.
Seeing that, he and his raid were stunned, the surviving priest's hurriedly made distance from the assassins when a spear materialized around them, this time even more lethal than before and struck them. Finishing them off.
Nature's Entanglement — II
Effect: Conjures dense magic roots at a given location (8m radius). Enemies caught are Rooted for 3 seconds and cannot move.
CheckMyFire hurriedly changed the location of his spell and cast it towards the 4 assassin, as roots began to materialize and rooted the assassins, the archer's of his raid hurriedly burst cast their skills and finished them off.
The mage's gaze then returned to the spear wielder and the players accompanying him.
His pupils widened as he saw their defender, his ally—skewered, while the rest of the enemy team dealt with the remaining defenders around him.
Each fallen player shattered into fragments, leaving behind dropped gears.
Those assassins had bought them enough time; the enemy's melee classes had already bridged the distance between them.
Realizing that he will loose he hurriedly cast a mage exclusive skill and ran.
Health Assistant — I
Duration: 30s | MP 50 | CD 5 min
Takes +20% extra Damage | All incoming damage first burns MP instead of HP.
SpearSovereign scoffed and activated his mobility skill—
Sprint – II
+50% Movement Speed
He chased.
Then cast again—
Cyclone Hurl - II
His spear left his hand and spun forward, striking the mage and knocking him down.
CheckMyFire rolled across the snow, scrambled to his feet, and shouted, voice shaking with fury, "M*, you just wait!"
He then messaged his guild to retreat.
Seeing the remaining players turn and run, the spear user didn't move immediately. He paused, watching them scatter across the snow, a faint trace of amusement in his eyes. Slowly, he rested the spear against his shoulder.
"By the time you make it back," he said calmly, voice carrying over the frostbitten air, "that chest will already belong to me."
His gaze sharpened.
"Clean it up."
The rest of his raid moved at once, boots crushing through the snow as they sprinted after the fleeing survivors. He wouldn't allow loose ends to circle back and interfere with what came next.
Seeing that the guy had no plans of giving it up, the mage quickly used a skill.
Tactical Swap – II
Switch positions with a teammate | CD 1 min.
He exchanged places with a nearby assassin. A spear appeared out of nowhere. It drove through the assassin.
But CheckMyFire was already darting away. Downwards. Towards the boss.
SpearSovereign halted. "Forget him. Eliminate the others."
The mage reached the lower ridge. The location the boss was at.
The boss noticed him instantly.
Massive frozen arms rose slowly—
Then crashed down instantly. The snow detonated outward.
SHKKK-
A chain of dense ice spikes tore through the ground and impaled him clean through.
One hit.
KO.
SpearSovereign exhaled, his breath misting white in the freezing air.
"Tch… sly bastard," he muttered, eyes narrowing against the glare of the snow.
A calculated PvE death. No gear loss. No PvP penalty.
Moments later, the last few archers and assassins fell. Their bodies had shattered into shards of light, and loot lay scattered across the snow.
Silence fell over their side, while the boss on the other end fumed, stomping and shuffling, crunching ice with every movement.
His eyes then lifted to the real objective—
The boss... or rather, the chest it guarded beneath.
He opened his mouth to call for regroup—
When a voice drifted down from the rocks above and said, excitedly.
"Hrmhh… Oey."
A pause.
"Tell me the name of that skill."
Another heartbeat passed.
"Then… maybe I'll let you respawn in one piece."