Chapter 152: No Fun (1)

The portal released Jaxir back into the marsh with his mana full and the damp heat settling against him almost at once. He took two steps away from the black whirlpool before noticing that the noise he remembered from outside the dungeon had vanished, replaced by enough staring faces that he stopped and looked around.

There had been plenty of players here before, but there were considerably more now.

Jaxir’s mouth curved upward as he rested his Reflection Staff against one shoulder. "Well, I didn’t realize I was so popular. Hey there, everyone, the name’s Jaxir Chance, nice to meet you."

No one laughed with him, though several people shifted enough that the silence became even funnier.

The crowd had spread out around the marsh rather than packing themselves tightly together, and Jaxir caught bows, shields, swords and more than a few staffs among them. The three Golden Fleece members stood farther back without joining the loose ring, with Ilyan holding a longbow across his body while Bex carried a shield almost broad enough to hide behind and Orsa rested a thick-headed mace over one shoulder.

Jaxir recognized the guild insignia immediately and wondered whether this was going to become another one of those days.

One man near the front cleared his throat and raised a hand halfway before seeming to reconsider the entire idea. "Do you... still have the rewards you took from the tutorial village heads?"

Several heads turned toward him with expressions that asked why anyone would announce the robbery before starting it.

Jaxir laughed. "Yes, I do. What, you want them?"

His grin spread until the thin golden band around his brow caught a faint pulse of light, and whatever the man saw in Jaxir’s eyes made his own expression stiffen.

"No." He shook his head fast enough to make Jaxir laugh again, then backed through the crowd without caring who he bumped into. "I’m good."

Smart man.

Unfortunately, intelligence appeared to be unevenly distributed.

"NOW!"

Bowstrings snapped from three different directions, and Jaxir felt the arrows through his Sparkle Mana before his eyes finished finding them. Fine sensations brushed across every shaft cutting through the air, outlining their speed and angle so clearly that Jaxir only shifted his left foot half a step and tilted his shoulders. To everyone watching, he had barely moved at all.

"Well, that’s not very nice."

The first volley crossed where his chest, throat and legs had been a moment earlier, passing around him so closely that one arrow disturbed the edge of his robe. A Ranged Class player following the Barrage Path cursed and drew again, his next ability splitting three arrows into a widening spread meant to remove the empty spaces between them. Jaxir raised his staff.

"My turn."

Mana flooded outward from him.

Jaxir didn’t intentionally suppress anyone, but the difference between his control and the surrounding Magic Class players became painfully obvious the moment his Grand Archmage comprehension seized the mana immediately around him.

The loose energy hanging over the marsh seemed to thicken beneath his awareness, and a young mage halfway through shaping an attack stared at the half-formed spell trembling above his palm.

"Why isn’t it working?"

Another Magic Class player went pale. His unfinished spell collapsed outright as his gaze snapped toward Jaxir and stayed there long enough for recognition to replace confusion.

"Grand Archmage! He’s a fucking Grand Archmage, run!"

"Hey, hey, hey, where do you think you’re going?" Jaxir laughed as silver-blue light flashed across the end of his staff. His first Cast tore across the clearing before the mage completed his turn, thin tendrils spreading outward from the bullet and adjusting its angle until it struck him squarely between the shoulder blades.

[-112]

The man’s HP bar collapsed from full to a thin red strip before he tumbled into the mud. Jaxir’s brows rose slightly.

The Willow Witch had made his new Cast feel a bit muted, but that thing had been a Level 15 Nightmare boss whose defenses dwarfed anything a normal Magic Class player could carry around. Against someone built almost entirely around Mind, the difference was obscene.

Three more Casts formed around his staff and shot away before the first man finished falling. One curved around a tree to catch another mage fleeing behind it, while the second dipped beneath a Barrage arrow and the third twisted between two players before slamming into its actual target. Jaxir barely needed to guide them after release anymore.

[-106]

[-118]

[-109]

Three health bars dropped into red at once, and panic rolled through the loose formation. A Destruction Path mage tried to force a sphere of fire into existence despite the pressure around him, but Jaxir felt the gathering mana before the spell stabilized and sent a Cast straight through the weakest point in its formation. The bullet pierced the half-made spell, changed course in the resulting flare of fire, and struck the mage in the throat.

[Critical Hit!]

[-174]

The man dissolved into motes of light before his own spell finished disappearing.

"Oh." Jaxir’s grin sharpened as he turned his staff toward the next cluster. "You guys are pretty weak. You’d think you’d have better defensive treasures if you’re going to walk around like a glass canon."

The Barrage player loosed another spread, and Jaxir stepped into the one place where the pattern couldn’t reach him before sending two Casts back along the arrows’ trajectories. One slammed into the archer’s shoulder and spun him halfway around, while the second curved downward and struck the thigh of the Ranged Class player beside him. Their health bars started plummeting so quickly that both scrambled backward instead of firing again.

[-103]

[-115]

Jaxir walked toward them.

Every step brought another flash of silver-blue light, while his Casts crossed one another in the air and searched out whatever openings the crowd gave him. A Melee Class player following the Speed Path tried to cut across his flank, only for Jaxir to read the movement through the displaced mana and plant a Cast into his ribs before he completed the approach.

Another critical hit caught a Magic Class woman in the forehead and erased her from the clearing completely.

[-121]

[Critical Hit!]

[-181]

Someone farther back finally screamed over the chaos. "Stop running! He’s a mage, close the distance or he’ll pick us apart one by one!"

Several Tank Class players surged forward at once, and their formation made it obvious which ones followed the Fortress Path. Shields locked together while defensive mana thickened over their armor, creating a moving wall rather than several individual targets.

Melee players gathered behind them, including more than one Power Path fighter carrying weapons heavy enough that Jaxir preferred not to find out how much damage they could do to his still-unimpressive HP.

Farther behind them, Ilyan finally lifted his bow. Orsa rolled her shoulders and tightened both hands around her mace, while Bex planted the bottom edge of his shield into the mud and waited for the mob to do exactly what Golden Fleece had wanted from the beginning. Jaxir caught all three watching him instead joining the fight and shook his head with a chuckle.

"Sneaky little shits."

The Fortress line began advancing, absorbing his next few Casts across overlapping shields while the Power and Speed melee players moved behind them. Jaxir watched his easy shooting gallery turn into an actual formation and pushed his lower lip forward in a small pout.

"Well, that’s no fun."