"Damn him! His provocative attitude is getting on my nerves. Just get him already."
Another of the mysterious players said, unleashing a projectile that came at me like a whip and entangled my right leg. I tried slicing it off with my katana. It was a failure. The whip, forged from earth elements, was too tough to handle directly. I needed something that could match its strength—my swordsman class wasn't built for that.
"Shika, freeze the whip!"
"On it." She nodded and raised her hands from within the cage-like structure, freezing the whip that wrapped my feet. It didn't just stop there. Her ice elemental magic channeled through the earth-made whip, freezing the hands of the caster alongside.
I yanked my leg out of the frozen whip, shattering the ice that melted away soon after. Thanks to that, I was now certain that the earth element of the mages could be countered with Shika's ice. Of course, I could shift my class to mage since I had that. I, however, avoided using the skill too soon. Besides, my mage class skills didn't have ice magic either.
"Shika hear me out." As I called her out again, I explained what I was planning to do. Meanwhile, I told Zariel to get ready with one of her strongest attacks.
[20 stat points have been used on agility]
[AGI: 61]
I had a few stat points left after defeating them the last time. I didn't use them on purpose. In a situation like this, I wouldn't be able to maintain balanced core attributes if I had used them in advance.
'After all, it's the direness of the situation that teaches you to act accordingly.' I thought, 'Since my strength is already boosted with 20 additional points due to the class-shifting ability, I need to match my speed to inflict a fast and lethal attack.'
I almost disappeared from the top of the cage, dashing through the air straight at the mage who'd been hit by Shika's ice a moment ago.
My attack, however, was prevented by a magical shield cast by a mage standing next to the tamer.
"You really thought the same attack would work again?" he scoffed, "I learn from my mistakes. Don't think I'll fall for the same pitiful trick again."
He certainly seemed that type. If not, he wouldn't bring trained mages instead of his incompetent subordinates like the last time. It wasn't, however, what I replied to him.
"What kind of sick joke is that? If you've truly learned anything, you wouldn't have come after us. Yet here we are fighting one another despite knowing I have certain chances of winning."
"Quite confident, eh?" he smirked, signaling his teammates "Now!"
A sudden flash blinded me.
The magical shield I was trying to overpower suddenly flared with a blinding light. It overwhelmed my vision and forced me to retreat. I couldn't see, but I could feel it—something like a snake coiling around my neck. It yanked both my arms in opposite directions and pressed down on my legs until I dropped to my knees.
They acted quicker than I imagined. Well, they were professional PKers after all. They sure knew how to get their jobs done properly and quickly.
Their strategy reminded me of my gameplay during the IGC-S5 tournament. That time, too, I faced a sudden stun grenade. Since I took that head-on, the effects lasted longer than usual. But I didn't let myself fall into the hands of the enemies.
Switching to the 150-round machine gun, I focused. Of course, I didn't stand still and fired like an amateur PvP player. Lying prone, going crouch, jumping, jiggling, and with every possible movement, I commenced firing, hearing their footsteps and predicting their tactic of rushing.
Before they could do anything, their squad was wiped out, granting me a crazy victory in that tournament. Since then, the gaming community had been hyped over me and bestowed me the nickname 'Mr. Unreadable'. Of course, I lived up to the title and went crazy during the IGC-S6 tournament too.
This time, however, the circumstances were a bit different—not like I couldn't use my unreadable tactics here, though. I had already prepared everything and needed a few times.
"See. I've told you. Your lame strategy won't save you again." The tamer said, as they closed in and focused entirely on me. I was their initial target anyway. "Now hand over the dungeon entry."
"What if I say 'go to hell!'?"
"Do you have the audacity to?" one of the mages replied, "Just give it back already. We have other business to take care of. You already have wasted more of our time."
"Yeah, yeah. I know that." I replied, my tone lacing with sarcasm, "You damn PKers had nothing to do besides killing other players and getting their loot."
"That's where you're wrong, brat. We are different than any normal PKers. We have much more than killing players."
'What?' I wasn't exactly shocked, just surprised to hear that. I didn't think they would do anything besides killing players. Not that I cared about their job anyway. 'Never mind!'
"Just give it back already!"
"Why not? Take this. Shika!!"
As I screamed out, multiple shards of ice—sharper than any spears, emerged from the ground abruptly, piercing through the PKers' torso, chest, and other body parts, followed by a group of whips—made of ice and containing sharp stings-like a rose wine.
They were stuck. Their magic grew weaker. With a gentle pull of my body, the tentacles that entrapped me fell apart, releasing me from their grip. It wasn't effortless, but pretty much easy. The MVP of this time was Shika, by the way.
She had used her ice abilities and channeled them underground—that was also optimum for snow and ice. She then transformed her abilities, changing into spears and wine that secured us the result we needed.
"Damn you!!" they stammered, incapable of doing anything but seeing their HP dropping—or at least that was the case anyway.
[You have shifted your class]
[Current Class: Mage (Tier-6)]
[Additional stats have been shifted from the attribute Strength to Intelligence]
[INT: 40 (+20)]
Ignoring the PKers, I walked gently towards my friend who was still trapped. The class change was necessary to get them out of the cage. Arisen my hands, I gathered dark energy.
Yes, my mage ability was based on dark magic, which came in handy in a dire situation and caused me fatigue afterward.
As I wielded dark magic the cage made of earth element evaporated away, freeing Zariel and Shika. They seemed relieved. Shika was startled a little, seeing me using multiple classes—or perhaps—but didn't ask anything, and just gave me a reassuring smile.
"Zariel…" I called her, smirking with a smug face as she took on the hints I gave.
"Sure!" she smirked back and flew towards the PKers.
Shika and I stood there, witnessing Zariel unleashing one catastrophic attack as though we were watching a sci-fi anime and a crazy female scientist was experimenting with a nuclear bomb in her lab.
In any case, that was impressive to look at. The shockwaves passed us down, and we couldn't see their avatar disintegrating into particles.
[Fatigue: 79%]
[Your party has defeated the enemies]
[Congratulations! You've unlocked the achievement: Bounty Hunter (V)]
[Exclusive Job: Bounty King, has been unlocked]
[Job-Exclusive Class: Ranger, has been unlocked]
"Wait what?" this time, however, I was taken aback by the notifications.