Zack checked his mana again. Still decent. His passive and potion were keeping him afloat.
The others… not so much.
Point's mana bar was scraping the floor.
Obi's mana was also low due to constant molten charge when off cooldown.
Haze was not faring any better, her skills were all dark.
Iris was… doing her best, which was all anyone could reasonably expect from a healer.
More small groups kept showing up, opportunists hoping to get lucky.
Zack's party dispatched them without ceremony.
As they fled from their pursuers.
They reached the worst possible outcome:
A mountain path with a dead end.
The players chasing them erupted into cheers the moment they realized.
Shouts echoed up the cliff wall; taunts, demands to surrender, promises of "merciful looting."
They had finally cornered their targets.
Zack glanced at the timer.
6 minutes, 42 seconds until Haze's debuff ended.
They just needed to stall.
Before Zack could speak, Obi stepped forward… and threw out a line so painfully cliché it made everyone freeze for a moment:
"Fools! You dare challenge us in our domain?"
Both sides stared at him.
Iris slowly turned her head. Even Haze blinked at him.
The attackers exchanged confused looks.
Then—
"…What the hell did he just say?"
"Is that guy for real?"
"Bro, he's stalling! Don't let that bastard buy time— "
"Who talks like that in 2031?!"
The attackers broke into irritated grumbling, several pointing their weapons at Obi and charged.
One archer yelled, "Shut up and die already! We know you're delaying!"
Another added, "Move! Don't let him drag this out!"
Obi shrugged, muttering just loud enough for his team,
"See? Didn't even get thirty seconds out of it… protagonist lines are scams."
Zack pinched the bridge of his nose.
Obi huffed. "What? Every protagonist buys time with dramatic lines. I was hoping for at least thirty seconds. I only got twenty."
Iris advised him, "Please don't ever do that again."
But the twenty seconds were enough.
Zack didn't waste time. "Iris, regen your mana. Don't heal unless someone's actually dying. The rest hold the line."
Obi braced his shield and planted himself at the narrow entrance, blocking off most of the incoming spells. Haze stayed behind him, readying mobility skills for when the recall window opened.
Zack and Point took opposite sides of the choke point.
Anyone who stepped into casting range dropped in one or two hits, bursts of damage that made the front row hesitate before pushing again.
The narrow entrance worked in their favor.
Only a handful of enemies could fit through at a time and Obi stonewalled all of them.
But more shadows kept appearing behind the attackers.
More guild. More parties. More people who somehow already knew their coordinates.
Global chat was clearly doing its job.
Zack kept one eye on the timer, the other on the battlefield. They didn't need to win.
They just needed to stall until the debuff ended… So that Haze could use the recall stone safely.
When the timer reached two minutes, everything took a turn for the worse. Their health was at a critical low. Mana was depleted. All major skills were on cool down's.
And then—
Two entire raid groups appeared from opposite sides of the ridge. Both raids regarded each other with hostility that hinted at an impending bloodbath but for the moment, they shared a mutual target:
Zack's ridiculously overpowered, infuriatingly alive party.
Neither raid exchanged words. They simply moved. Defenders took the lead, shields held high. Priests and mages positioned themselves behind them.
Layers of buffs, barriers and damage reduction spells flowed through their ranks like a synchronized wave.
Zack clicked his tongue. They weren't going to clear this with a simple one-shot anymore. Even his enhanced damage couldn't effectively pierce through so many stacked defenses.
And Chain Lightning was still unavailable.
Zack lifted his staff regardless.
"Point—unleash everything you've got left. I'll set it up."
She nodded, panting heavily, her mana almost out despite repeated usage of mana potions.
Zack casted Celestial Chains, golden runes locking into place as the front lines of both raids became suddenly interconnected, movement hindered and damage-sharing initiated.
"Do it."
Point took a deep breath, pooled every ounce of mana she could muster and cast Lava Vein Burst, her most powerful area burst.
The combined impact was swift and devastating.
Zack followed up with a quick Ice Lance, then Judgement Ray, light and frost cutting through the linked foes.
The entire front line, Defenders, Fighters, anyone ensnared in the chains, collapsed in an instant, their shared damage overwhelming even their stacked defenses.
A handful of priests tried to push out heals but they were a heartbeat too late. The chains detonated, fire tore through the formation and the entire front line vanished before a single spell could land.
Point slumped forward, her mana completely drained. Zack wasn't far behind, scraping the bottom of his reserves.
Beyond the wreckage of the fallen front line, the raid leaders paused in visible shock at the sight of Zack's small party still standing but only for a moment, they didn't waste time gawking.
Orders flew and countless more players continued to advance.
The timer displayed: 1 minute, 19 seconds. They just needed to hold on.
"Just a little longer…"
"Obi— Buy some time" Zack ordered.
Obi exhaled sharply. "Ya, sure. I'll go, donate my body to science."
He surged forward, buying five hard-won seconds before the mass of enemies swallowed him whole, their skills slamming into him like he was nothing more than a practice dummy.
Zack slammed down a mana potion the moment the cooldown lifted and snapped Resurgence onto Obi. Who jerked back to his feet with 50% HP and a 20% stat boost, looking like someone yanked out of a nap he didn't consent to.
Now revived, he stared at Zack for a second, dazed, then said flatly:
"Alright. Screw explanations. Science can wait, just keep doing that."
The foes halted mid-attack, stunned into silence.
Resurgence wasn't just rare, half the healers present had never even seen it.
Even Iris didn't have the spell yet.
And Zack? His skill was Level 2.
The silent disbelief spreading through the crowd said everything: He is really... a Priest??
Obi dusted himself off and added under his breath, "I'm not donating anything— actually, I'm taking whatever these idiots drop."
He quickly bent down, picking up a dropped dagger, a bag of coins and what seemed to be someone's boots before returning to his position as if nothing had happened.
"Buff me and Obi with everything you've got. Then fall back to the end of the ridge. Use the recall stone the instant it activates," Zack shouted.
He was speaking to Iris but Haze caught it too. She was already cutting down anyone who slipped past Obi and she didn't need clarification to know the order applied to her as well.
Haze hesitated. Her eyes stared at his name, now stained in a deep, throbbing crimson.
"Are you sure? With that color—"
"Boss drops are worth it, right?" Zack replied back giving a smirk.
She swallowed but nodded, Iris then cast Divine Barrier on Obi. The glowing dome held long enough for the revived fighterish-tank to clash with the incoming wave. His mana had ticked back to half, just enough to buy them time.
Zack unleashed Chain Lightning the instant it came up, frying the next cluster. He checked the last hope on his bar: Momentum Swift— 15 seconds.
He threw up Frost Barrier on himself and bolted to Obi's side just as an assassins blinked past the frontline, going straight for the squishier trio.
The telltale shimmer of Backstab flashed—
but the strike clanged off Zack's shield.
Zack instantly countered with an Ice Lance, nearly dropping the assassin. Point fired a desperate Magic Arrow, finishing the kill.
Obi was already gone again... collapsed under the combined burst of a dozen enemy players. Still, before he fell, he managed to cast his crowd-control skill, unleashing a thunderous roar.
And now the entire enemy force funneled toward Zack and his team like a tidal wave.
Zack retreated, hands flying through motions as he cast Celestial Chains—
But the players charging him suddenly smirked
and pulled back.
Splitting to the sides.
Making a path.
They'd learned his kit. They knew exactly what he was going for.
And they were letting a fresh wave of players rush him first, fodder meant to force out his cooldowns.
Zack exhaled once, long and sharp.
"…Smart bastards."
Zack noticed that his Chain Lightning, Arcane Surge, Adrenaline Buff and Momentum Shift were all ready and thought he might be able to execute one combo before they took him down.
He waited for his opponents to approach, both teams prepared for a heavy assault.
As they reached the midpoint, the archers unleashed their skills, while the tanks activated mobility abilities and the mages and priests began casting buffs and shields.
Zack also deployed everything he had left in his arsenal to overwhelm them, managing to take out the mages and priests, while the archers were eliminated as well.
The counterattack hit him like a truck.
He triggered Benediction Aura, the warm pulse of healing ticking for +99 HP per second, a faint glow layering fresh resistance over him. He followed it with a self-cast Heal, another +132 HP snapping into place.
None of it really bought him comfort, only time.
The incoming damage didn't stop. Every second, another hit chewed into the recovery he was desperately stacking.
A shield slammed into him, erasing the entire second tick of Benediction. A pair of elemental bursts slammed against his side, undoing the next.
Even as a Priest, his defense was monstrous at this point... stacked buffs, stacked shields but the numbers were still tearing him down piece by piece.
A shield bash staggered him— 212 HP.
A follow-up cleave grazed him— 247 HP.
Then the next group's ranged spells peppered him nonstop, −180, −295, −270, chipping away faster than he could reposition.
Icy fragments scattered across the ground as Frost Barrier collapsed.
Divine Barrier held for a heartbeat, just long enough for Zack to stabilize his stance before it buckled under a concentrated volley.
With no shields left, every hit dug straight into his health bar.
His health dropped dangerously low and Second Wind triggered, a brief surge of recovery pulling him just above execution range.
He used the opening instantly: Momentum Shift, a fresh Frost Barrier, a health potion slammed back in the same motion, then an Ice Lance to force space.
The shard hit hard enough to stagger a Defender; Judgment Ray finished the second one before he could use shield bash.
But the next wave was already flooding into the choke point.
A dozen projectiles hammered him the moment he stepped back.
Barrier Broken. −220 HP.
Backstab −198 HP.
Somewhere in the chaos, the system chimed— Debuff Lifted but it was buried under the sound of repeated impacts as blows slammed into him from all sides.
Another barrage crashed, an Assassin lunging, an Archer drawing, several more players pushing at once.
Zack knew the next hit would finish him. He cast Chain Lightning anyway.
The spell ripped through the Fighter and Assassin immediately, arcs slamming into every body in reach.
But the Archer's arrow caught him mid-motion and the Mage's follow-up spell closed the rest of his HP bar.
Zack dropped.
A wave of curses rolled through the attackers. Across the battlefield, several players swore in disbelief.
"What the hell— Why is it so damn hard to kill a priest?!"
Their leader yelled for them to stop dragging it out but the shouting trailed off as several players noticed the faint glow far behind Zack's fallen position.
Haze and Iris were already standing at the back of the cliff, hands on their Return Stones, the teleport animation has just started.
Point, who had recovered some of her mana and had gotten bunch of last buff from Iris just as the healer's recall animation kicked in, snapped her focus to the Archer-Defender pair closing in.
She fired everything she had left.
Her strongest spell slammed into the Archer first. He got a shot off in return but the damage vanished almost instantly under Iris's lingering field regen.
Before Point could breathe, the Defender reached her and slammed a stun skill straight into her.
Point froze.
The Defender didn't bother finishing her, he sprinted past, eyes locked on Haze, whose return animation was already counting down. If he stopped Haze now, the entire countdown would reset.
Iris noticed the shift instantly.
She didn't hesitate, cancelled her Recall on the spot and landed Cauterize on Point. A wave of light broke the stun. A rapid follow-up of heals steadied Point's HP.
Point inhaled sharply as control returned.
Then she blasted the Defender point-blank.
He didn't get a second chance.
Already chipped down from the earlier fight with Zack, he barely had time to curse before he dropped.
Point straightened, hair frazzled, robes slightly singed and then noticed the thirty or-so players staring her down.
The rest of the raid stood like statues, jaws slack, eyes wide and stunned into silence. Haze had already returned, leaving only Point and Iris standing.
Iris looked around, wide-eyed, completely speechless. It was her first time being surrounded like this.. like they'd just robbed a bank in broad daylight.
Fortunately, the game didn't allow anything inappropriate without consent. Both Point and Iris exchanged a mental sigh, realizing the crowd could only resort to offensive spells.
Zack watched the scene unfold from a strange perspective, like a ghost hovering slightly above his own body.
The feeling was surreal. His 30-second return timer had already passed but he didn't rush back. He just stayed suspended, observing as Iris and Point held their ground, waiting for the inevitable.
Once it was over—
He just stared at the aftermath, wondering how the others would have fared in their place and whether all the risk, had truly been worth it.
A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. Somehow… it had been both exhilarating and unbearably tense at the same time, his pulse still racing as exhilaration and strain refused to separate.
Zack pressed Respawn and the noise of battle finally died. It was over and somehow, they'd made it.