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[Few minutes earlier]
Three players were currently walking deeper into the Verdant Glen.
"What a nice sword, can't wait to try it out." The swordsman among them spoke with sparkling eyes, his finger tracing the flat of a shiny, stainless-steel sword in his hand.
If Freddy were here, he'd immediately recognize this group, as this was none other than Lord Awesomness and his partners.
"Can't believe you actually let that cleric go dude, you know we need that guy." Grizzler frowned as he queried Lord Awesomness.
"Forget him, we've got plenty of bandages, Who needs a healer?" Still admiring the sword, Lord Awesomness had no energy to spare for his chatter.
"You just had to give him his share of the loot, that was all." Grizzler continued.
"What's up with you man? I mean its just a single healer, we can get more." Lord Awesomness waved the matter away, his eyes still on the sword.
"You know that's just common rank right?" Not happy with him, Grizzler decided to rain on his parade.
As expected, Lord Awesomness immediately frowned upon hearing his words. "So? At this stage of the game common is a luxury only us selected few can enjoy."
Having bought some coins from the exchange platform, all three of them had changed out of the trash beginner equipments and were covered throughout in common rank equipments and weapon.
As the two began to bicker, Double son who'd been silent the whole time suddenly stopped and spoke, "Shhhh! You guys hear that?"
Stopping in their track, the others also listen silently. Their ears pick up the sound of struggling and wolves growling.
"Sounds like a battle and it's not far." Grizzler said and Double son nodded in agreement.
But Lord Awesomness keeping silent suddenly started moving towards the direction of the battle.
"Where are you going?" Grizzler startled by Lord Awesomness action called out in a hush tone.
"I'm going to go take a look of course, and probably see if we can kill-steal." The latter answered in a matter-of-fact tone and continued forward.
Before Grizzler could dissuade him, Double son also followed leaving Grizzler behind.
"I swear, if you guys offend any guild you're on your own." Grizzler mumbled but still followed behind them.
After walking for a while, the three of them suddenly stopped and hid.
A few meters in front of them, in a small clearing, a single level 4 player was fighting against three level 5 wolves with bare hands and the player actually seem to have the upper hand.
"Man this Aegis Kaelos guy sure is something else." Grizzler praised through the party chat, a chat that only people in the same party can operate.
Yet he actually got no reply. Turning his head, he saw Lord Awesomness gritting his teeth, while Double son had a funny expression on his face.
"It's that f*cker. I'll kill him, I'll f*cking kill him" Lord Awesomness roared in the party chat and lifted his sword.
Double Son who was closed to him hurriedly grabbed his hands. "Are you crazy or just blind. Even if you're higher in level can you guarantee that you can beat that guy?"
"Come on man, be reasonable man. Look at those moves, does that look like something an average gamer could do?" Grizzler who finally recognized Freddy immediately dissuade.
"I hate to admit it, but Grizzler's right. That guy will be a handful if we confront him directly." Double Son spoke up as well.
"I say we forget about him and go level up." Grizzler followed up.
"Never, I can't forget that humiliation. Double, didn't you just unlock the Ambush skill?" Lord Awesomness asked and Double Son's eyes shone.
Right now, both Grizzler and Double Son were at level 6 while Lord Awesomness was a step further at level 7.
So they had all unlocked the second skills for their classes.
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Ambush [Active]
Level 1
Description: Strike a target's neck from behind dealing 5% additional damage and stunning the target for 3 seconds.
Cost: 10 MP
Cooldown: 15 seconds -----------------------------------------
"Stun him and then we'll lock him down to avoid any controversies." Lord Awesomeness instructed to which Double Son nodded.
At that moment, the target actually let a wolf bite his leg. They watched him punch the lights out of a wolf and hurled it into a nearby tree.
Even Lord Awesomness was taken aback, 'this guy can actually be this violent.'
The fight ended soon with one of the wolves dead and the others fleeing and Double Son seeing the targets low health decided to strike.
Double Son activated the assassins first skill stealth, his body fading as he slowly crept closer to Freddy. He raised his dagger, poised for the strike.
But just as he was about to unleash Ambush, his foot landed on a dry twig, the snapping sound echoing through the clearing.
Realizing his cover has been blown, he immediately launched an Ambush, yet he still missed by a hairs breath.
'Such sharp gaming mechanics, who is this guy?' Double Son was utterly puzzled.
---
Meanwhile,
Ding!
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System Notification
Lord Awesomeness party has attacked you, you have been granted permission to retaliate without gaining outlaw aura.
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Freddy's eyes narrowed as he read the system notification, a mixture of irritation and frustration washed over him.
He let out a deep sigh again, the weight of his past encounter with Lord Awesomness' party settling in.
'Great, just what I need' he muttered to himself, shaking his head.
"Listen I..." before Freddy could say anything, Double Son burst forth with such speed that even Freddy was caught slightly off-guard.
The common dagger in a reverse grip in his hands shot out with such deadly precision that even as Freddy immediately leaped backwards thanks to his reflexes, the dagger still grazed his chest.
-15
Landing after the dodge Freddy still pulled back to create some distance before Double Son could pursue.
It was at that moment that he suddenly discovered that his upper body was bare.
'It seems that strike took the last durability of my shirt.' Realizingwhat had happened, Freddy looked at Double Son with a frown, yet the latter flick his dagger and responded with a taunting smile.
'That does it. Even a rabbit bites back when pushed too much.' Freddy thought as his face gradually became expressionless.
If Kelvin was here, he would have realized that his big bro was way past angry.
Not offering any other word, he lunged towards Double Son. 'It seems I have to beat some sense into the three of you.'