Pride Online

BOOM!!!

Wisana had not yet to snap at his party for being annoying when the thunderous noise sounded again, making them both turn to the source of it immediately.

From afar, the enormous Lord Inferno had begun fighting with the other players again. The roar of the crowd, the sound of weapons smacking in the distance, and the floor shaking every time the boss monster moved were all evidence.

“There, Wisana, we’ve got something. Someone is challenging Lord Inferno again.”

“Wait, and where should we go for the good spot?”

“Well, we can try running on this ridge. We’re most safe on here.”

As the head of the party ordered, the buddies started running on the ridge on the stone walls, straight to the battle ahead with speed. In the meantime, Wisana noticed that Maysa looked like she was in a good mood again. Her oval face had a big grin as she was having fun with the event.

“Looks like you’re enjoying it, May.”

“I am.” She answered aloud. “This kind of boss doesn’t come out every day. I like adventures and thrillers, of course, I'm having fun.”

“Then, when we were getting away from that demonic boss, you found it enjoyable, too?”

“I’m talking about something exciting, not something risky!” She corrected him with a broad smile.

“Aren’t they the same?” Wisana disagreed, feeling amused.

“Only for you that risking a life can be something exciting.”

They both laughed out loud after she finished that sentence, rushing up until they got to the battle area. Maysa slowed down as she looked carefully at the situation.

“Whoa, seeing them like this feels like a miracle that we didn’t get killed,” Wisana said aloud when he saw the scene before his eyes.

It was a battle of about fifty players wildly holding many kinds of weapons against the fire demon. Long, sharp swords were stabbed in the red muscle, making clanging sounds. Other than that, there were arrows, bullets, and many kinds of magic spells, flying at the monster nonstop.

However, with all those attacks, they could not make any damage on Lord Inferno!

BOOM!!

Whipping its hands just one time could blow the players away, bouncing them off in different directions. Some of them were taken down right where they were standing, especially players from the classes with lower armor stats. And some that had enough armor points to endure the attack still got stunned by it anyway.

Watching this got Maysa and Wisana shuddered with fear in their stomach.

While many players were having the stun debuff, Lord Inferno shot a beam of Hell Blaze out of its wide mouth.

Well, it looked like the myth saying that its breath could melt human bones was actually a fact.

The massive blaze burnt dozens of the players in its way to ashes in just the blink of an eye. The others in the battlefield screamed in terror.

“That’s crazy. He attacks in a combo like that, no one’s gonna defeat that guy.” Wisana felt hopeless for the players below.

“I think so, too.” Maysa agreed. “Started with a slap to stun, then burnt them alive. Not sure if this should be called savage, or sadist. I guess that to defeat this guy, there has to be someone with quick movements to be a decoy. Then players with heavy attacks can gang up on him from the back.” After Maysa finished her strategy, Wisana chuckled.

“His attacks are fast and strong like that, who would be able to evade that every time?”

“You will.”

Wisana flinched, turning to Maysa as she spoke.

“Me? Hell no. You know what I did earlier was just a fluke.”

“A fluke? Like... five or six times in a roll? Nah, I don’t think so.”

“Uh...” The one with the quick movements could not find any more words to debate with her. He watched the boss Inferno being a responsible host by using its tail to sweep clean the players off its house floor.

Until that moment, less than half of the players were still able to fight. They looked at each other, blinking as they decided to retreat before the sadist boss could exterminate the whole army.

“Now, Wisana, I need to get these shots.” She finished as she was off from his side.

“Hold on, May! What kind of photos are you trying to get? The Inferno guy’s taken them down. There isn’t a fighting scene anymore, it’s an escape scene,” Wisana asked as he followed her.

“That’s exactly what I want, taking photos of those who run and naming it, The nightmare of Priders. What do you think?” Maysa grinned, winking at him so cutely.

Looked like this girl enjoyed the other’s fear so much. Well, those photos of him about to get killed were good enough evidence.

After she found a good spot for her shots, her well-proportioned figure stood firmly, bringing a camera out of her inventory. She brought the camera to her eye, her finger busily clicking the shutter button to snap many shots. Wisana watched her, then he sighed.

He thought she was just joking, but Maysa was literally capturing Piders’ nightmare.

“That’s right. Great. Can you make a more terrifying look, babe? Yeah, just like that, Nice.” She was rambling as she was enjoying taking photos. Unlike the other guy who just squatted down, looking at those doomed people, tired.

If they all were so scared, why would they join the event in the first place?

With many friends, they fight; with fewer friends, they flee. So, typical.

“Oho! This one’s so nice!”

BOOM!!

Maysa yelled delightfully when there was a guy getting kicked by the boss. Obviously, Maysa just captured the motion of the guy flying into the air perfectly. This could be the best stop action photo of all time.

“Hey, Wisana. Should I name this one, Pride’s monster to the world cup?”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say.” The hoarse voice brushed her off, eyes focused on the group of players that were separately fleeing away.

“Oh, oh. This one is so cool, too. I'll name it, Beauty and the beast...”

(Sigh,) this Maysa seemed to be having too much fun now!

Judging his party as he leaned in to look at the said photo, too. But when the image appeared to his eyes, the tall one paused.

Okay, that was right. Maysa really had a proper name for it. The beast referred to that Inferno guy for sure.

But about the beauty,

The girl looked so familiar with that black long hair that was layered by her cheeks.

Moreover, she had this panicked look on her face, too.

This girl...

Warunya!!!

That was another time that Wisana was driven crazy. His heart was about to jump out of his chest. Did she not say that she was just going to join the photo quest? What the hell was she doing in the middle of the war zone?!

KYAAA!!!

The screech coming from the girl below was a confirmation that she was not there intentionally to fight with the boss for sure. That scream of terror made her face pale and twist with panic.

“That girl was really shrieking. And no one really wants to help her?” Maysa said as she raised eyebrows, noticing that the boss Inferno was acting strange. The monster arced its neck, revealing the flame in its mouth, which was full of sharp teeth.

She knew then the boss was about to spit another Hell Blaze.

“Damn, the boss is really a sadist. He was about to burn the girl alive. Oh, I should name this one, Beauty is not privileged. Sounds good, Wisana?”

Silence.

Her buddy was not responding.

“Wisana, are you still there?” Since there was no reply, Maysa turned to check on the guy. Then she saw him taking many steps back, away from the edge of the ridge, with a weird-looking opera mask. She raised her eyebrows, feeling curious.

“What are you doing, Wisana? And why are you wearing that mask?”

“Later, May.”

That was all he said before he sprinted off at full speed. The pair of grey eyes seemed like they were about to bulge out of their sockets.

Don’t say that to this guy!!!

“You moron!! When will you stop being like this?!”

Maysa's scream seemed to be a little bit too late to stop this airhead, since he was already hurling off the ridge with the power full jump skill.

In the blink of an eye, he landed perfectly fine on his feet, and right on the spot in front of Warunya. She flinched as someone just suddenly appeared right in front of her like this.

“Vincent,” she cried, a trace of panic was clear in her voice.

Wisana did not say anything. He glanced up at Lord Inferno, seeing that it was about to spit the fire again. He clicked his tongue.

He needed to save Warunya from this attack!

Hell Blaze!!!

BOOM!!

It was too late for Wisana because the massive fireball was already shot at Warunya and him, with the speed that was impossible to evade at all.

“Orn!” Wisana shouted, holding the smaller figure of her tightly. He used his back to defend against the attack, hoping that at least, his body would protect his loved one just for a bit.

As Maysa was watching them from above, she widened her eyes because of the brainless act of this cocky man. Did he actually want to die with that girl?! The fireball’s damage was too severe, they were not going to make it with just his back!

“Get out of there, Wisana! Jump now!!” She shouted, hoping that Wisana would listen to her, but it was too late. A second later, there was a large explosion where they both were standing with the damage number popping out in the air above the fire.

BOOM!!!

85,389!!