The moment the bell rang on the duel start, Astroth melded with Luna, whilst summoning Morpheus and White Death. He started receiving ranged attacks, but merely ignored their damage.
He then sent White and Morpheus to the enemy party’s back-line, disrupting their damage, before he dove into the frontline, accompanied by Genie, who came out of hiding.
His opponents comprised two tanks, four melee damage dealers, 4 ranged damage dealers, and two healers. This was a pretty balanced team, all things considered.
But it wouldn’t matter much to him. At his current speed, he was too fast for any of them to catch him, so he prowled through their ranks with impunity.
He never targeted one person in particular, dealing damage around the whole of them equally. He already had a plan in mind, and that would wipe away their dumb attitude forever.
As their health levels slowly went down, the healers tried their best to keep them alive, but with Morpheus’ aerial bombardment and White’s constant harassment, they were having a hard time healing.
One tank eventually broke away from the front-line, trying to go grab aggro on the two monsters. But the moment he turned his back to Astaroth, his fate was sealed.
Astaroth practically appeared behind him, now armed with his war axe, swinging for the neck. There was nothing the poor Gnome could do.
Even though he was inside his mechanical armor, the axe cleaved cleanly through, sending his head flying away. His three-quarters of health instantly vanished, as the insta-kill effect from beheading happened.
The Gnome, who had previously over ten thousand HP, was now down on the floor, blood pooling around his body. But the duel wasn’t over yet.
Astaroth started using tongue clicks every other second, activating Hypnosis, but failing to charm them. He was slightly disappointed, but it mattered little.
When their mental defences dropped, he used Intimidation Shout, causing most of them to tremble in fear. With them all becoming immobile, he then lined himself with them.
With a cocky wink to their Dwarven party leader, Astaroth unleashed an Aether-primed Moon Beam. Although it wasn’t charged fully, it still did way more damage than needed to end all the remaining players in one hit.
When they disintegrated, the surrounding barrier disappeared, freeing Astaroth’s movement. He wasn’t done yet, though.
Since this was a safe zone, outside a dungeon, there was a cemetery nearby. Unfortunately for the ragtag group of Dwarves and Gnomes, it was located outside the safe zone, and Astaroth had a bone to pick.
He hurriedly ran to the graveyard, where the players were reappearing, and killed them another two times before his meld timer ended.
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Now that this was over, and he was out of combat, Astaroth finally received the Exp. And his jaw dropped.
*Exp received for PVP, 159’118’200 points. Congratulations, player!*
*Level up! Level up!…*
Astaroth got a level-up notification six times, putting him at level forty-seven! That sat him in front of Khalor by 2 levels!
He didn’t know for how long, but at least he had still made it. He was over the moon.
But then he realized his companions had also levelled-up many times!
Genie had shot up to level forty-three, White Death had levelled to level forty-two, Morpheus levelled once, making him level forty-six, and Luna still had a long way to go, sadly.
While he was looking at all the status windows, Phoenix walked up to him from behind. He was too focused to notice her approach, but was snapped out of his thoughts when two arms embraced him from behind.
“Thank you,” Phoenix whispered.
She then realized what she was doing and let go of Astaroth, before turning around and promptly returning to the safe zone. When she walked next to the rest of the party, Athena was looking at her with knowing eyes.
“Shut up! Don’t say a word, or I’ll burn you alive!” Phoenix said, looking at Athena with murderous intent, before speeding away.
Athena only giggled, while I’die was looking at them weirdly.
“Am I not understanding something?” the boy asked.
Athena looked at him, before rolling her eyes and walking toward the safe zone too.
Everyone looked at I’die with friendly disappointment, before leaving too, aside from Violette. Violette was looking at the motionless Astaroth.
She was waiting for him to move, but after a minute of silence and not moving, she walked up to his side.
“Are you–?”
When she arrived at his side, she saw a glimpse of his face, which was currently red as a tomato. She understood why he was still not moving and giggled.
“We’ll be waiting for you in the safe zone.”
After saying her piece, Violette walked away, humming joyful songs to herself. She quite liked Astaroth and Phoenix, and seeing the always so confident man react this way, to the latter’s touch, made her feel fluttery inside.
She guessed it was probably how Astaroth felt currently, and left him alone to think.
In the meantime, Astaroth was having a mental meltdown. He had rarely ever had contact with women before, since he had become rather reserved after his parents’ deaths.
Not that he was still pure, but he had very little contact. Needless to say, being embraced that way without expecting it had short-circuited his brain for a moment.
He stood there, motionless, with his face on fire, for a few minutes, before finally regaining some semblance of composure. He wasn’t sure how to respond to Phoenix’s caress, but he now at least knew there was more to it.
He would need some time to think about how he felt, but he knew he couldn’t act as if nothing had happened. So he opened up his messaging window and sent a brief text to Phoenix.
‘I’m glad to have defended your honour, and also glad to know how you feel about it. I’m not very experienced with these things, so I will need some time. I hope we can keep being friends while I sort this out.’
He sent it and waited for a response. After a short while, a message came back.
‘I can wait. I’ll try not to be awkward about it in the meantime.’
Astaroth breathed a sigh of relief.
Then he became antsy again.
‘A girl likes me. What do I do now?’