Proelium

Valaine emerged from the darkness of the cave. The night air swirls around her, her senses heightened with anticipation of the hunt. Well not that she can feel it, it's a flavor text that appeared in her UI.

The night is graced by millions of Aurora Borealis, a breathtaking spectacle of cosmic artistry. Under the vast, star-studded canvas of a night sky, the ethereal green and colorful ribbons of the northern lights dance and undulate in silent harmony, painting celestial arcs and curtains that seem to defy the laws of physics.

In the stillness of this night, Valaine stand in awe of the realistic graphics in the game, feeling a profound connection to the cosmos as she witness this graphically rendered celestial ballet.

Ahead, she saw two players with human avatars standing in the open area, two football fields away from the cave. It's a cleric and a warlock.

The cleric, stood tall and valiant, his chain-mail armor echoing with name of righteousness. Adorned with a lightweight helmet, a wooden shield bearing a holy insignia, and an iron mace etched with writings.

Standing silently beside him was the warlock, cloaked in mystery and enigma. His long, weathered leather coat, concealing his identity. The hood he wore obscured his features, save for two eerie, luminous green eyes. The warlock gripped a slender wooden wand carved with basic runes in one hand and cradled a wooden crossbow in his waist.

They are deep in conversation, seemingly unaware of her presence creeping towards them.

"Are you sure this area only spawns low level undead?" says the warlock.

"Positive. This is the lowest difficulty area in Helheim" says the cleric.

"-The undead here spawns like rabbits! We can grind our way up in no time" the cleric continued.

"I hope you're right. I used a handful of teleportation runes to get us here. Those costs a fortune!" the warlock lamented.

"Trust, Trust. I've grinded here before when I was a bug tester" the cleric assures him.

"Oh, I spawned in Helheim then? I was worried about the sun for nothing" Valaine thought to herself.

Assessing the players, it would be not wise to approach them. The warlock seems to be level 4 while the cleric is level 8. All of them seem to be wearing standard gear, but the cleric could prove a challenge to her. They look like XP to her waiting to be harvested. The ancient crypt will have to wait.

Valaine is unfortunately, greedy. Confident she can take them all at once.

In a fight of course.

The two players conveniently has their backs turn against her. Stealthily, she blended through the darkness thanks to her fur, her clawed feet making little noise on the rocky surface. Valaine kept to the shadows, staying out of sight of the humans ahead, and being mindful with their peripherals.

She will take down the weakest player first.

When she was within striking distance, she launched an attack from behind, sinking her teeth into the warlock's neck. His eyes widen in surprise, as he tries to call out for help, but his words are cut off by the pain of her bite.

She underestimated the physical defense of the warlock, Valaine only took a fifth of his hp. He didn't die instantly. She forgot that she is no longer fighting skeletons.

"Plan B it is" thought Valaine.

[Intimidation Roar]!

[Failed]

RNG is not on her side right now. Damn.

The cleric obviously unaffected, however, is quick to react, and is already casting a spell towards her.

[Magic Arrow]!

The cleric's spell manifests as a glowing purple light, coalescing into a pointed glowing construct of arcane energy. With a mace, the cleric hurls it at her, the glowing arrow streaking through the air towards her.

She ducked and dodged, narrowly avoiding the spell, but the construct impacts the ground near her, exploding in a burst of blue light. The dazzling shock-wave throws Valaine backwards, and she landed hard, a few feet away, dazing for a moment. This gave her a [Stunned] status effect.

"Shit! This gremlin came out of nowhere!" exclaimed the warlock.

The warlock, with impressive resilience, manages to stay conscious despite her bite, and quickly stands, clutching his neck. With a flick of his wrists, he conjures a stream of crackling green energy that blasts towards her.

[Eldritch Blast]!

Valaine was still unsteady from the cleric's spell, she managed to only partially dodge the blast, which impacts her shoulder, sending her spinning and tumbling backwards. As she began to regain her wit, she noticed that the healer has cast a spell on the warlock, who seems to be recovering from her attack.

"What that heck is that spell!! It took half of my hp!" Valaine worriedly thought.

It was painful. It's a good thing that the developers made a limiter on pain or else she would've been in a coma. She now regretted putting low points on her defenses.

[Lion's Heart]!

The cleric's spell, [Lion's Heart], fills the warlock with a fierce determination and a burning strength.

"Easy on the [Eldritch Blast]. Don't spam it on the damn thing" the cleric reprimanded.

Ignoring his ally and glowing with power, the warlock retrieved and raises his wand, and conjures a crackling bolt of green energy that arcs towards her again.

[Eldritch Blast]!

She managed to dodge the blast, and as she steady herself, she charged towards the warlock, her rusty sword held aloft. With a powerful swing of the sword, she knock the warlock's wand, sending it clattering to the ground again.

"Damn it! Stop dropping your wand you goofball!" the cleric shouted.

The cleric, seeing his ally in danger, hurls another [Magic Arrow], and she was forced to dodge. The construct explodes in a burst of light, sending out a shock-wave that stuns her again for a moment and gives the warlock an opportunity to regain his bearings.

Valaine has a suspicion that the cleric is purposely missing his [Magic Arrow]. It must be a strategy to hit the ground and explode on impact to stun the enemy. She took a mental note to fly upwards instead than to dodge on land.

The warlock quickly pulls out a secondary weapon, a crossbow. His hands fumbling a little due to the pain from her attack, and aims it in her direction. With a pull of the trigger, a bolt streaks towards Valaine.

It missed. Valaine has to thank the warlock's shaky hands for this.

[Haste]!

The cleric quickly moves to support his ally, casting a spell on the warlock to increase his agility and help him evade her attacks that makes him drop his wand.

Valaine reassess her current strategy she was no match for the powerful cleric and warlock in a head-on fight. She could try throwing her rusty swords at them but the cleric would just stand between and use his shield. Even if it pierces one of them, the cleric could just heal any injuries, and she would've lost her swords.

She decided to flee in defeat.

With quick wing beats, she rise into the air, eluding their attacks, and fly towards a dark forest in the distance. The two pursue Valaine, blasting spells towards the sky as they go, but she managed to evade their attacks due to her advantage in the sky and gain some distance.

"Idiot! If you didn't miss, that thing wont be running away from us!" says the cleric in an angry manner.

"Shaddup!!" replied the warlock.

Her foes are stubborn. Refusing to let her flee, they follow her blindly. The warlock kept on spamming his signature spell, only to be dodged by Valaine.

"Conserve your MP! Stop spamming [Eldritch Blast]!!" the cleric clearly annoyed at his friend.

After a few minutes, Valaine saw the dark canopy of trees of the forest ahead, and dive towards it, hoping to elude her foes.

Hiding in the branches above, she watches as the cleric and warlock enter the forest, still chasing her. The cleric, with his spell [Haste], keeps up their pace, and the Warlock, his wounds almost completely healed by now, scans the treetops for a sign of their prey.

Valaine is now in a bind. She has half of her health, nearly consumed her entire stamina reserves to flee. To top it all, two players with perfect health is chasing her in the forest.

But she has an advantage they don't have.

They are far from home. This is the realm of the dead, Helheim. The realm is in a constant night accompanied with cold weather. Being an undead, she is unaffected with this. She can also see perfectly in the dark with [Dark Vision].

It cannot be said the same for human players unfortunately.

[Ember Charm] the cleric casted.

"Ah… I feel warmer now. The [Freezing] status also disappeared" remarked the warlock.

"Damn.." Valaine thought in disappointment.

"I cant use this continuously though, It's a second tier spell and it takes a lot of MP. And I don't want to wait 6 hours to replenish my MP" the cleric warned.

"Then how do we keep warm while hunting?" the warlock questioned.

"Look around you, Everything is flammable. We burn this forest" the cleric answered.

This alarmed her.

The warlock and the cleric, with their magic, casts a low level fire spell: [Sparkfire], sending a stream of dancing flame across the forest.

The trees, their branches filled with leaves, quickly ignite, and the fire spreads. Valaine watched from above, her wings beating a futile effort against the growing inferno, as she wonder what to do next.

The cleric and warlock have decided that the only way to be sure of getting rid of Valaine is to burn down the entire forest. They both casted the same spell continuously, a simple low level spell that conjures up a burning orb of fiery energy.

The cleric hurls the glowing ball of fire into the branches below her, causing the entire area to burst into flames. The warlock also releases a fireball, sending it soaring into the thick woods. The entire forest bursts into flames.

There is no escape.

But what's a forest without it's inhabitants?

As the fire continues to spread, a large, furry creature suddenly emerges from the forest, its sharp claws and sharp beak bared, rage in its eyes. It's thrice the size of an average grizzly bear, shrouded in shaggy, dark feather and fur, with a hawk's head adorned in resplendent black feathers, a sharp beak, piercing brown eyes, and a hooked nose. It boasts enormous wings that, though incapable of sustained flight, enable it to glide through the air momentarily.

[Black Hawkbear lvl. 12]

It is a Hawkbear, A black variant, a formidable force in the forest, and it stands in front of the cleric and warlock, blocking their escape path. They stand in awe and fear, shocked by the powerful beast in front of them.

Valaine watch, with some satisfaction from her spot on the branch, as the cleric and the warlock are suddenly confronted by an angry Hawkbear. The great beast fills the clearing with its snarl, its razor sharp claws extended.

The warlock, taken by surprise, quickly conjures up a ball of crackling green energy in his hand, while the cleric tries to call upon the magic of his patron to aid him.

[Eldritch Blast]!

The ball of energy strikes the massive Hawkbear, a considerable damage, but it only further enrages the creature.

"Uh.. Im out of MP" said the warlock.

"Shit" the only thing the cleric can say in the situation

With a thunderous howl, the bear charges the warlock and the cleric, its razor sharp claws extended. The cleric quickly conjures a shield around the two to protect them, but as Valaine watched, she sense that it might not hold for long.

With an effort, the cleric keeps the protective shield in place, but the bear's claws are rapidly chipping away at the spell. The warlock, his energy spent from his previous attacks, is unable to conjure a response.

Valaine witness, with some glee, the spell break, and the bear's claws strike towards the cleric knocking the cleric's helmet off.

The cleric moves quickly, and manages to evade, but the warlock is caught by the giant bear's claws. The bear lifts him up in the air, and then slams him hard into the ground. Valaine hears the warlock's bones snap, he falls gaining a status effect [Downed], making him unable to move. The cleric, realizing that he is alone, desperately tries to cast a spell to save himself.

To his delight, the cleric still had an unused slot for a second tier spell. Seeing that he is in immediate danger, the cleric resorts to this spell to help him out.

[Arcane Push]!

With a wave of his arms, the cleric summons a burst of magical blue energy in a shape of a hand, and directs the hand construct towards the bear. The bear, caught in the Push spell, is sent tumbling forward, its path taking it towards a section of the burning forest. As such, the bear was burnt alive in the process.

With the cleric alone, Valaine saw an opportunity to quickly dispose of him.

With a roar, she activated her skill [Berserk], which pumps Valaine with a surge of energy, increasing her damage output for 7% for 2.5 seconds. With newfound strength, she sweep towards the cleric, her wings and claws a flurry as she attempts to take his life.

"YOU" the cleric said in an antagonizing manner.

Seeing Valaine approach, the cleric quickly conjures a shield spell, and she can see that he is visibly tired from the spell he used before.

She slashed at the shield, but it remains resistant, keeping her at bay.

Undeterred, she continued to attack the shield, her claws slashing furiously at it. The cleric stands defiant, but his shield is wavering beneath her assault. With one final effort, Valaine pushed with all her strength and manage to break through the shield, her claws raking towards the cleric's unprotected head.

A bold text highlighted in red saying "[Critical!]" hovered above the cleric's head

The cleric, still caught by surprise from his previous fight with the bear, is too slow to react, and Valaine's claws sunk into his head, and he falls to the ground, defeated.

She stand above him, victorious.

With the cleric down, She turns her attention to the unconscious warlock. With quick wing beats, Valaine close the distance to the warlock, and look down at him lying helplessly on the ground.

Valaine remember all of the trouble he has caused her during the entire fight, all the spells he has cast, and all the damage he has done.

With all of these thoughts, her fangs gleam in the firelight and she decided to finish the job and take the warlock's XP and loot as well. Valaine took a moment to savor the moment before she strikes.

"Argh... Revive.... me... damn it" the warlock pleaded.

"Sksh"

With another powerful bite to the warlock's neck, she eliminated the player. All of the magic he had at his disposal was no match against her savage hunger and primal ferocity for XP.

Valaine stand over the bodies of her foes, victorious, her senses heightened by victory. Well, according to her flavor text that appeared in the corner of her UI.

With a deep, satisfying breath, she took a moment to recover from the fight, and savor the taste of victory.

But it's strange. She should be getting her loot and XP now. The UI says she is still in "Combat."

Valaine was about to report this bug by accessing the settings icon when she hear the thunderous roar of the half alive raging Hawkbear, back to finish the fight. Despite the damage it has already taken from the fire, the bear bears down upon her, the half of its body, charred by fire, still strong and able.

The bear moves towards her swiftly, the sound of its heavy paws hitting the ground echoing through the burning forest as it advances. She readies herself.

As the bear closes the distance, its claws extended, Valaine can see that there is fire still burning on its body. It lets out a roar, its head moving from side to side as it searches for a weak point.

Valaine stand firmly, not afraid by the display of the beast. It's low on health, she can manage this.

With a low snarl, she lunges towards the bear, her wings beating the air, her claws extended. And then, a deadly dance commences, her claws cutting into the bear's flesh, and its claws slashing hers in response.

She continues to trade blows with the great bear, cutting and clawing at each other, neither giving an inch in the fight. The fire on the bear keeps burning.

As Valaine continues the fight, she notices that the bear is tiring, its paws no longer as quick and its movements more sluggish. Though it is still dangerous, she can sense that it cannot continue much longer. Valaine must press her advantage.

This is her chance, and she knows that this will be the battle's final moments. She leaps upwards and fly up, out of the bear's reach. This attack will cost a lot of stamina, but it will be worth it to finish the beast.

From this vantage point, she unleashes a flurry of swooping dive attacks, diving towards the bear and slashing at its exposed neck and face, again and again. The bear attempts to counter, but by now it is too weak, and soon it goes down, its roars stilled, her fangs deep in its neck.

A moment later, silence settles.

With a final roar, the bear collapses, its strength totally spent. Valaine slowly land on the ground, her wings still aloft, and survey the battlefield with a feeling of satisfaction and pride.

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[Wooden Crossbow (Low Tier)]

[Chain-mail Armour (Low Tier)] [Unable to equip, requirement: Must be Elf, Human, or Dwarf]

[Gold x75]

[XP gained!] [Level up! 5 -> 8]

Racial Skill unlocked: [Iron Fang]

[Iron Fang]. A buff that enhances your next melee attack by 2-6%

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A shame she couldn't use the armour. But she have won a tough and exhausting fight, a hard-fought victory. She has been awarded with good loot for her level. A ranged weapon could prove useful, as she can't rely too much on her claws and swords. This makes her versatile.

Furthermore, she was also rewarded with a new racial skill. Countless usage of her fangs might have triggered this reward.

The memory of that last fight was etched into her mind like a haunting melody. She had been overconfident, too sure of her aerial prowess and swiftness. She had come close to players deleting her character, narrowly escaping the clutches of her opponent's magic.

It had been a harsh wake-up call, one that left her battered and humbled.

Valaine's thoughts swirled in the corners of her mind. The notion of a hit-and-run approach had been dancing in her thoughts, like the flicker of bats in the night. It was a technique that resonated deeply with her character's nature, harnessing the essence of her identity as a bat.

"Yes, Yes, This is good for both role playing purposes and my own combat strategy"

Her admiration for the hit-and-run strategy was rooted in its finesse. She imagined herself executing swift, precision strikes, her wings a blur of deadly grace as she swooped in on her unsuspecting prey.

A fleeting touch of her razor-sharp talons, and she'd vanish into the shadows before her adversary could react. For it to happen she, need to invest a lot in agility and physical attack, but to have bigger stats in those two alone need sacrifices. Valaine is going to be a glass cannon.

With determined ideas and steps, she reminds herself that she needed to go to the ancient crypt as soon as possible before the timer runs out. With a vision in mind, she quickly left the burning forest, not wanting to stay any longer.

"What's taking Kusanag1 too long to dive-in?" she sighs, impatiently waiting for her friend

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Name: Valaine

| Level 8 |

Race: Undead

Racial level:

Wamphyri (8)

Job level:

N/A

HP: 12

MP: 0

PHYATK: 18

PHYDEF: 10

MAGATK: 0

MAGDEF: 10

AGT: 22

RES: 0

SPC: 0

TOTAL: 72

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