Chapter 252 - Episode 252: Atraxthes, The Keeper Of Time. (3)
Chapter 252 – Episode 252: Atraxthes, The Keeper Of Time. (3)
Everyone is on their defensive stance and lets the spellcaster and archers handle the fallen players because they don't want to lose so many players in the first phase, and thanks to the additional buff that they got from converting the chances into buff. Ivonna runs to the front and is followed by Francesca, I run toward Diamond and the Eluna Empire's faction since they're the lowest percentage compared to the players from other factions. I'm pointing my staff at the fallen players and cast [Hailstorm] and that alone is enough to defeat one-third of them in an instant. Diamond and Lothair with the players behind them are staring at me with a surprise, Diamond smiles and nods to show his gratitude.
Everyone is busy defeating their own friends and partner but when the thing is going so well, Atraxthes is just staring at the players and then he raises his spear again. Everyone is speechless because the fallen players that we have been defeated come out from the sand again and start charging toward us. No EXP nor drops coming from them and it's only a waste of time and energy to fight them, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't fight them because if they let their fallen players roam around and attack them it's going to be a problem.
Hans and Leo are looking at each other. Hans taps Leo on the chest using the back of his hand.
"Sand! The sea of sand's pillar!"
Leo is aahing with understanding and then they both run toward Ivonna to inform her. They both run as fast as they can but the sand isn't allowing them to run fast so it will take a while for them to reach her, they both are yelling and screaming Ivonna's name but they're too far away. The players near them look at them and start telling the players in front of them that Leo and Hans are calling Ivonna, so they're passing that information to the front. Ivonna finally receives the information and looks back.
Ivonna walks past Kingstar, Kingstar looks at her then looks at Hans and Leo that are running toward them. Kingstar follows Ivonna from behind and sees what's this about.
Leo and Hans are pointing their hands at one of the pillars while keep running toward her, Leo is putting his hands around his mouth.
"The pillar!"
Ivonna and Kingstar can't hear what's Leo saying, so they both run toward Leo and Hans. Finally, the four of them are standing next to each other, Leo is catching his breath while pointing at the pillar.
"The pillar! The pillar with the sea of sand's symbol on it."
Kingstar is furrowing his forehead.
"What with the pillar?"
Hans looks at Kingstar while pointing at the fallen players.
"The pillars represent the elements in this stage, the sun, moon, star, pyramid, the sea of sand, and the hourglass. Right now, these fallen players are coming out from the sand and I think that has something to do with the sea of sand's pillar over there, but we don't know what to do with this information."
Kingstar looks at the pillars and he just realized that all of them have different symbols on them, he then looks at Hans.
"I see, so the sea of sand's pillar is right over there next to the team from the Alliance Kingdoms' faction. You should go and check the pillar, Ivonna. We can handle everything here."
Ivonna nods and then Ivonna, Hans, Leo, Francesca are running toward Alessandro while Ivonna is messaging Michael about the pillar near him. Chelsea and Emma with Grisell are looking at the four of them running toward the players from the Alliance Kingdoms' faction, Grisell says that they should follow them and so the three of them run and toward Ivonna.
Michael and William are standing in front of the pillar and then Ivonna and the rest of them are approaching them. Michael is waving at them, Ivonna looks at the pillar and as expected it has something to do with the symbol on it. The pillar has a health bar and that only means one thing that they have to destroy the pillar.
All of them start attacking the pillar but then Atraxthes is looking at them and his eyes are wide open, he's pointing his spear at them.
"You are not allowed to destroy my precious pillar! Attack them!"
All the fallen players turn around and face where the sea of sand's pillar is, they all then start running toward it walking past the barrier that can't be breached by the players. Kingstar is pointing his sword at Ivonna.
"Protect them! Don't let those fallen players interfere!"
Diamond and Lothair look at Kingstar and the players from the Aarus Empire's faction run toward the other side of the map, they both look so confused. Diamond looks at me and raises his eyebrows.
"What are they doing?"
I raise my eyebrows.
"It seems that they found out the answer to our problem, we should move as well and go where Kingstar and the other go."
Diamond and Lothair nod with understanding and order all the players to follow Kingstar.
We are all circling around the pyramid because the barrier is blocking our path, and when we can see the team from the Alliance Kingdoms' faction, all of them are surprised when they see the fallen players are attacking them and Kingstar with the players from the Aarus Empire's faction ambush the fallen players from the side and cut the fallen players' forces into half.
Diamond and Lothair are looking at Ivonna and hundreds of players are attacking the pillar, Diamond is furrowing his forehead while looking at Lothair.
"What are they doing?"
Lothair shakes his head.
"How do I know, but if Ivonna is involved in this then that means it's something important, not to mention Leo and Hans are on this with here so it must be very crucial that we have to help them. You will help her while I will help the frontline."
Diamond nods and then looks back at the players and points his sword at the pillar.
"Half of you follow me and help Ivonna and the others destroy the pillar, while the rest will follow Lothair and defend the frontline with Kingstar and Sigryd, let's go!"
Diamond and half the players run toward Ivonna and they help her destroy the pillar, they look at the health bar and the pillar has over 500.000 HP but it has 0 defense so it's not a problem, it's just it will take them a while to destroy it. Lothair is at the frontline with Kingstar and Sigryd, they notice that the fallen players have slowly become stronger and they realize that these fallen players aren't that different from the cursed souls, they have the same buff from the first stage.
Kingstar looks back and checks on Ivonna and the others, but they're still halfway from destroying the pillar, he doesn't want to pressure them but they're running out of time because the fallen players have become stronger than them. I guess this is the time for me to help the frontline, I run toward Kingstar and take a leap while pointing my staff at the fallen players, I use [Blazing Stonehammer] at them and they all perish into dust. All the players are in disbelief how massive the damage of my spell is, but I don't stop there and start using all the spells that I have, [Solid Rock], [Fiery Wind], [Fireball], [Frozen Flames], [Tornado], [Wind Cutter], [Earth Spike], and all the spells that have been memorized in my spellbook.
I just made a thousand of the fallen players disappear, and everyone is staring at me without blinking, Kingstar is shaking his head and I know what's on his mind but then he raises his sword.
"Let's hold the line here! Archers and spellcasters keep firing them all!"
The tankers are at the front making a barricade with their shields and some of them even hold two shields in their hands. Kingstar and Queenstar are looking at each other and they both nod, they both jump to the front and slash their swords to the ground creating an ice shockwave and a bright light shockwave, they both then look at the fallen players and start slashing their greatsword in sync. They're protecting each other's back and killing everything that's in front of them, then Kingstar stabs his sword to the ground and a shockwave releases from the sword making all the fallen players stunned then Queenstar runs towards them and slashes them all to death.
The ground is trembling and we can hear the pillar is crumbling and falling to the ground, Atraxthes screams and all the fallen players are screaming as well while getting sucked back into the sand. Everyone looks at Atraxthes and suddenly the barrier disappears, Ivonna without hesitation puts her hands around her mouth and shouts.
"The barrier is gone! It's time to attack Atraxthes!"
Everyone is looking at the people next to them and they all scream and then run toward the pyramid with their weapons are lifted. As Ivonna said that the barrier is gone and all the players now can climb the pyramid and Atraxthes seems stunned because the barrier is destroyed, he falls back to his throne as if he falls unconscious. All the archers and spellcasters are halfway from the top of the pyramid but they're already in range and start firing their arrows and spells toward Atraxthes while Kingstar and the rest of them are still running up the stairs. They all look up and when the first few arrows hit Atraxthes they all see the damage.
[1]
[1]
[1]
[1]
Kingstar is looking at Atraxthes and raises his eyebrow.
"Are you f*cking with me?"
All of them keep running and then they all start attacking Atraxthes who's unconscious on the throne, but then Atraxthes opens his eyes, he screams and all the players that are at the pyramid get thrown away and they all died. The rest of the players who haven't managed to reach the pyramid walk down and resurrect those players who died from the shockwave.
[Atraxthes, The Keeper of Time (Sunny)]
[Level: 1500]
[HP: 88.014]
[STA: 3.000.000]
[ATK: 0]
[DEF: 100.000]
[MDEF: 100.000]
Ivonna looks at Francesca.
"You got the timer?"
Francesca looks at her raises her fingers.
"3 minutes is the time he becomes vulnerable."
Ivonna looks at the rest of the pillars and nods with understanding.
"So we have 5 chances left to kill Atraxthes…."