Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

Kaizen smiled with amusement as he watched how Jarnus struggled to keep up with him, and how his defenses crumbled with his every move. Jarnus was very reactive to the Psyker's smallest movements, and this speed certainly meant that he was very strong, but this quick reaction also exposed his weaknesses.

A Tank only needs to act when it is necessary to protect his allies, but a Tank should not only be someone who protects others, but also someone with leadership skills and game reading. What good is it to be a Tank who will always drag his group's frontline into the mess? Nothing, so Tanks generally have to know a lot about spatial awareness and the variations in possible scenarios.

Jarnus hadn't fully developed all that yet, and Kaizen needed no more encouragement than that to try to finish him off.

With another step, Kaizen reached Jarnus' right side and saw that the huge opening in his opponent's guard was within reach of his sword.

Swinging the Eye of Storm sword, the Psyker was about to wedge the tip of the blade into Jarnus when Kalma moved with incredible speed to where they were, dropping the second layer of the group's frontline. Still, the speed with which she moved was not enough to reach her companion, so all she could see was Kaizen's blade going through the man's chest until it came out his back.

The piercing caused by the Eye of Storm would certainly do a lot of damage, but it was impossible that it would kill Jarnus. After all he was a Tank with many more life points than most players.

However, still in the moments that the sword was piercing through Jarnus' chest, Kaizen used the <Deep Cut> ability and that huge wound created by the sword, which was already deep, gained more width. With a pulse of brutality, the thin tunnel made by the Psyker's blade expanded, opening a hole in Jarnus' chest and making him look like a doughnut.

Kalma was startled to see the damage this had done to her companion. Her eyes widened and she gritted her teeth in anger.

Jarnus stood in shock as he watched his HP bar drop. The damage he received was not only critical, but also massive.

'How strong is this guy? I only opened my defense for a second and not only was he able to spot that, but he had to aim at a vital point to apply much more damage than normal... No, I'm sure there is no one who can react that fast. He must have planned to do a fake retreat to throw the stone at me with his magic and then move forward. This guy... Who is this real guy?' Jarnus thought, staring at Kaizen.

The Psyker knew he hadn't killed his opponent just yet, and he heard Kalma's approach, so he backed away quickly.

The big woman tried to get there in time to at least grab Kaizen, so she would sacrifice even herself to keep him trapped long enough for the others to kill him. However, she was not fast enough for that.

Jarnus fell to his knees before her, seeing that he received the condition of severe bleeding from the size of the wound and the locality. If he couldn't use some life potions right away, he was going to die in seconds.

"Are you okay, did you bring any potions with you?" Kalma asked Jarnus, concerned, and put a hand on one of his shoulders to support him.

The man, who was sliding a finger down to open the game interface to check his inventory for potions, stopped doing that and looked at Kalma to say that everything was fine. At that moment, he saw that the pillars that Kaizen earlier sliced through were now falling toward them.

"Look out!" Jarnus shouted, and then the crash of falling stones echoed throughout the palace. Not only that, the entire throne room shook from losing 1/3 of its columns.

A dense cloud of white dust filled much of the room, and Kaizen, hiding behind a pillar at that moment, thought:

'This is the moment I could use to escape from here.... AHH! but this is so much fun! No, I need to be rational. I carry thousands of dollars in my inventory. I have to get out of here.'

In the dense cloud, a few mere silhouettes were discernible. Kaizen was right, this was the best time of the battle for him to be able to escape. A chance like this only appeared in one of a million possible scenarios. So Kaizen began to walk, crouching down so as not to make too much noise with his steps.

Suddenly, however, a shining silhouette appeared in the middle of the white cloud. This silhouette shone like fire and with its flaming hair revealed itself before Kaizen sketching a smile of satisfaction at finding him face to face.

"Are you seriously thinking of running away with your tail between your legs like a pig after that very exciting statement? Come on, Kaizen! Let's have a bloodbath like you asked!" Taznaar shouted and hit the Psyker with <Fire Ray>, a concentrated skill of pure heat and power.

Kaizen only had time to defend himself with one arm that was already at half height.

*BLOWWWW*

A loud bang echoed throughout the throne hall in one second and in the next several consecutive bangs.

When Kaizen was hit, he was propelled backwards with such force that besides hitting the floor and the wall of the room he was in, he went on to break several stone walls of other rooms as he went through them. Finally, he stopped at a weapons room that was crowded with guards in the midst of their preparations for combat.

In the throne room, the mages of the Desert Lions Guild extinguished the dust cloud in a few seconds, and soon everyone noticed the absence of Kaizen and Taznaar. They also noticed a huge hole in one of the walls that led to holes in several other rooms. In addition, there were deep, black footprints on the floor of the room, which could only mean that Taznaar had entered his <Phoenix> form.

Then they heard sounds of screaming and repetitive thundering echoed throughout the palace. The walls were shaking as much as they had on the day of The Eye of Hermodr's attack.

The Captain of the New Royal Guard, Thenomor, crossed the throne hall quickly, for somehow he knew what Taznaar had in mind.

"Hey, all of you, come with me!" He said to the other seven Desert Lions Guild players who were still standing.

Initially, the players exchanged glances with each other, as if to say, "Who is this NPC to give orders on us?"

"Move along, or I'll kill all of you." Thenomor stated, looking back. His manner of behaving was usually full of elegance and subtlety, but this time a morbid aura enveloped him.

Certainly, the second time Thenomor spoke, no one hesitated to obey him.

Meanwhile, Kaizen was running through the corridors of the Royal Palace, defeating royal guards and trying to find a viable way out of this place.

'This place looks like a labyrinth!' he thought after the tenth equally white corridor he traversed completely.

In the background, he could hear the sound of Taznaar smashing the palace walls with several <Fire Rays> in an attempt to get to the Psyker easier.

*Blow! Blow! Bloww!*

In the midst of his desperation, Kaizen was taken by surprise by the appearance of a huge guard with armor and several companions. Above this mob's head was not only his name, but also his rank.

"Lieutenant Morrison? So that's the kind of damn luck I have? I wonder who will be the next one to show up! Rambo?" Kaizen said, looking at everyone with a deep disappointment of his own luck.

Even in the face of such a strong NPC, Kaizen would not give up. To make himself stronger and faster, he used the <Giant's Lung> skill and waited for some smaller guards to advance against him.

One guard hurriedly tried to pin him in his direction with a spear. Should he succeed in killing Kaizen, he would be considered a hero among the palace forces.

Kaizen easily dodged the tip of the spear, grabbed the spear handle with his right hand and pulled the guard close, at least close enough to drive the sword into this man's throat, which was one of the few weak points in the New Kingsguard's armor. Without giving Kaizen time to rest, immediately another man tried to hit him from the left.

Kaizen had both hands full, so he had to improvise with his feet. Using movements that he could never repeat in real life, he raised his left leg to an abnormal height and kicked the tip of the spear that was coming towards his neck.

The second guard saw the tip of his spear get stuck in the wall with just one kick from Kaizen at that moment and it made his legs wobble with fear.

Psyker spun his body around with impeccable footwork, grabbed the spear from the guard he killed earlier, and threw it in Lieutenant Morrison's direction to keep him occupied. As expected, the spear flew at high speed, and the Lieutenant had to use a lot of himself to be able to stop it, even using his ax as a shield.

By the time he looked back at Kaizen, all his guards were lying on the ground, completely bloodied, and Psyker was running towards him with a sword in his hands and two auxiliary spears flying just above his head.

...

Edited by: DrHitsuji

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