A loud horn blared after the yellow dragon's shout, signaling the start of the event. The yellow wyrm then flew off into the distance.
"Crap!" Van shouted as he pointed toward four players who were rushing towards him. There were two women and two men, and they were all armed with axes, swords, and knives.
"What do we do?" Sahara shouted as she charged over to get in front of Van.
Sang looked around to see that everyone was moving to get into the melee – the assumption seemed to be that whoever won the fight would have the advantage. Instead of running to Van's aid, though, she decided to just charge straight toward the enemies' base. There was a forest on the edge of the plains and she could see a large, wooden fortress there.
As she ran, she noticed that a tall woman with wizard robes was also running back to the base. It appeared that she would be the only defense. Wizards weren't hard to kill, and especially with a bow, but Sang wasn't sure if she'd even need to waste the time on her or not. The goal was to steal the flag – not get player kills. She paused for a moment to consider whether a player killed in this round would die in real life, but then she remembered what the dragon had said about respawning. As long as the timer was still going, it would be okay to kill other players.
The fray behind her was growing louder, and she could hear Van shouting orders and commands to his team, only adding more to the distraction they were providing. Sang quickly made her way into the forest and activated her Stealth mode. Her body became translucent as the word Stealthed appeared above her. The stealth rating she held now was 100% because her character had the Woodland Camouflage trait, which gave her a bonus whenever she was in a forested area.
The wooden fortress was simple in construction. There was a large wall made of wood, with shaved down points made to prevent people from easily climbing over, two lookout towers that stood high above the camp, and a large, red flag in its center. Sang glanced at the gate to the fortress and watched as the wizard named Seloon cast spells on the ground. From Sang's position, she could see small spikes beginning to grow out of the ground and become camouflaged within the soil as the wizard muttered phrases into the dirt.
"How do I get over there?" Sang asked herself as she looked for some kind of footing which could be used for climbing up the wooden walls. They were perfectly smooth and round, lacking any kind of footholds or handholds. The trees surrounding the wooden fortress had been cut down, too, so there was no way she'd be able to climb up above the walls and then leap down. She'd need to figure out some other way in.
The gate creaked open as the wizard woman rushed inside. She left it open, probably to lure players into walking into the trap that she'd just created. Sang had seen where the spikes were planted, though, so maybe she could just go around them.
Sang quietly walked over to the bare patch of dirt where she could still see the barbed tips sticking out of the ground. They were almost impossible to notice unless specifically looked for. There was enough space between each spike for her to step, however, and so she gingerly placed one foot in between the barbs, hoping they didn't activate. Nothing happened. She let out a sigh of relief as she slowly moved between the spikes until she made it inside of the fort.
The wizard was climbing up a ladder leading to one of the watch towers. Her back was very exposed, and it would take Sang less than two seconds to shoot her. So, with a shrug, Sang drew her bow, tracked the wizard's ascent, and fired an arrow straight into her. The words Sneak Attack Double Damage hovered above the wizard as Sang watched the woman's hit points go from 250 down to 15.
"Whoaaah!" Seloon shouted in surprised as she slipped off the ladder and crashed down upon the ground. The words Injury: Immobile hovered above her head as her health dropped down to one.
"Are you… kidding me?" Seloon groaned as Sang rushed past her and began to pull the rope on the flagpole, bringing the red flag down.
"Sorry, but someone's gotta win this!" Sang said.
"At least kill me so I can respawn," Seloon said. "I can't do anything right now!"
"Yeah, no," Sang said with a grin as she pulled the flag off of the rope. The flag flashed bright red and a small flagpole was suddenly in her hands. She had to put her weapon aside to hold onto it.
"No fair!" Seloon said. "I told those idiots to protect me."
"Trust me, kiddo," Sang said as she hoisted the flagpole high. "It's better for everyone if we win this one." And with that, she darted into the woods, making sure to avoid the spikes as she left.
As triumphant as she felt, Sang knew that she was in a bit of trouble. She hadn't realized that she'd have to carry the flagpole the entire way back – without the use of her hands to defend herself. She tried to balance the flag against her shoulder, but the thing was just too heavy and unwieldy to carry without the use of her hands. If Van and the team had been killed off, the enemy group would have no trouble murdering her and getting their flag back.
She reached the edge of the forest and looked over. There was still a fight going on in the center. Van, Kylian, and Sahara were fighting valiantly against four other members, and their health bars were steadily dropping. Fredlin was probably back at the base.
"Why did both of the wizards decide to protect the bases?" Sang muttered as she considered her routes. If she ran straight through the field, she would be noticed, but it would be a faster way of getting to her base – plus, Van and the team could protect her. She could decide to go around and through the woods, as they encircled the entire area, but doing so would take a long time and, if her team died, she'd be stuck having to face off against four players at the base with only the help of a wizard.
The clock was ticking, so she had to make a decision. Sang took a deep breath and made a dead run into the field, charging straight toward her base.
"Holy crap!" exclaimed one of the women as she brought her katana down hard against Van's face. "Is that our flag?"
"Get her!" a man with his battleaxes drawn shouted as he disengaged from the fight and made a mad dash toward Sang.
"A little help, guys!" Sang shouted out as she kept running. The two who were rushing to intercept her would be on her in a split second.
"Now, Fredlin!" Van shouted in between blocking blows from the two who had remained behind to fight against him and Sahara.
Fredlin suddenly appeared in front of Sang. "Close your eyes!" he whispered before raising his hands and unleashing a powerful arcane spell. Sang shut her eyes for a moment, but continued to run. She heard screams of agony from the other players.
"I can't see! I can't see!" screamed the woman. Sang opened her eyes up to see that the rest of her team was all cheering and waving her on as she continued toward the base. Her pursuers had stopped running and were fumbling around.
"Nice work, Fredlin!" Sang shouted as she ran to victory. With no one around to stop her, she was able to reach her base's own flag and plant the enemies' flag in the ground. The words You Win! floated above her head and she smiled proudly. Her heart was pumping pretty hard and the adrenaline was coursing through her. She couldn't believe she had succeeded.
What was more impressive than her own victory was the fact that Van had been able to anticipate her choices and set up a trap to help her get to the end. That was the perfect picture of teamwork, and she felt a giddiness rising up in her. They were doing so well, she couldn't help wondering what the next challenge was.