Zero to Peak: Ascension Online

Wanyama's guess proved correct. He then addressed Eliot, "We share loot drops by dividing the total haul equally. The sharing is done irrespective of each member's individual efforts in the raid."

"Excuse me, come again?" Paulo doubted he had heard correctly.

Wanyama calmly repeated his words. "If you have a problem with that, it's unfortunate for you that I cannot go against the established agreement. Secondly, I have done my research and can confidently say that you are not the most powerful members of this group. Someone still stands above you all."

'Is he talking about Mr. Brain?' Eliot wondered silently.

"And who is that?" Eliot enquired.

"BlackRiot 79. He is, without a doubt, the most powerful."

Eliot turned and walked furiously towards Ivan. The Knight-class adventurer drew out his epic-grade sword.

"Let's settle this once and for all, here and now. I have drawn my weapon; draw out yours. Let's duel to ascertain who has the bragging rights as the most powerful team member."

As he approached, he pulled up his system information just to glance at his statistics.

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Avatar Name: Proud Reaper — call 911

Class: Knight.

Subclass: Reaper

Rank: Base rank.

Skills (1): Bloodthirsty rampage

Description: A burst of murderous madness upon any target

Condition for activation: Must be overwhelmed by a number of enemies.

Con: Cannot be triggered at will

Grade: E rank.

Skills (2): Intimidation.

Description: Frightens and lowers targets' damage tolerance.

Cons: Fright works on mass, but severe damage tolerance lowering works on one target.

Physical

attributes

HP – 150

Vitality-11

Strength-12

Agility-10.3

Speed – 10.5

Stamina-10.5

Intelligence-10

Item attributes

Defence – 30. Attack – 200

Eliot was confident he could best Ivan in a duel. His immense strength of twelve points was where his confidence lay. He also took great pride in his stamina, believing it to be far superior to whatever Ivan boasted. It was a significant oversight on the part of the new team member. Even if Ivan had yet to unlock a fraction of the Riot gene's power, he would still surpass Eliot.

Eliot stopped just a few steps away from Ivan. "Why haven't you drawn your weapon?"

Ivan was surprised that Eliot still had the audacity to think he could fight him, completely ignoring Brainboss's advice that it was best to be on good terms with him.

'I suppose he must have been trained to respect only power and to never fully trust anyone,' Ivan mused.

"During the last dungeon raid, my switch-axe was damaged in a fierce battle against a mutated dungeon monster," Ivan said.

"What? Are you serious? How do you intend to deal with the monsters here?"

Ivan simply shrugged. "I have quick feet, and I'm an effective aggro magnet. I will lure monsters into a preset trap that ensnares them. I can hold my own in a fight if I'm cornered."

Eliot took a moment to scrutinise Ivan. There was nothing particularly special about his appearance. He was clad in his black robe and karate gi zubon. He decided not to don his riot armour. Ivan had no intention of fighting the arrogant newcomer. He had learnt vital lessons from Greg about controlling his emotions to prevent himself from spiralling into chaos.

Eliot swore under his breath. 'I've been tricked into acting humble. None of these guys have anything serious going on with them. They are slow, green adventurers who just happen to get along, with zero prior training.'

He sheathed his sword into the scabbard tied around his waist. He turned away from the team and strode deeper into the forest.

"Behemoth, Dazzle, we're leaving. We have been lumped in with a bunch of time-wasters. Let's start this raid ourselves. Staying here and trying to talk things out with them will only infuriate us."

Paulo followed closely behind Eliot. Dazzle was still exchanging heated words with Onelight and Am_I_Me.

"Bitch, your boyfriends are leaving. You don't want to follow them, huh? Do you want to hang with us so that you can get to know my fists?" Am_I_Me said menacingly, cracking her knuckles.

Dazzle calmly walked away, going to join her friends. She called out to her aggressors, "Don't think that this is over. You will hear from me, you uglies."

The remaining adventurers sighed in relief after the trio had advanced into the woods and out of sight.

"Dude, why didn't you wear your armour and just punch that dickhead?" Troy_to_me asked Ivan.

"There was no need to cause bad blood between him and me." Ivan smiled proudly. "I'm glad I listened to the voice that told me to don this casual appearance of mine. I had the intuition that they wouldn't want to band with us, and look, I was right."

Troy_to_me tsked. "I'm beginning to think you're a problem magnet. You somehow have the solutions to all the problems the team faces."

"Unfortunately, he doesn't have all the solutions. If he did, we wouldn't have to be dealing with egomaniacal idiots like that trio," Wanyama chimed in bitterly.

He was regretting the deaths of Baka and Alita_72.

"Whoa, calm down, bro," Sarah-Ze-Beauty said. She approached and gently rubbed Wanyama's back.

Wanyama gazed at the team members and sighed heavily. "Change of plans. Black Riot will lead the aggro alone. Troy_to_Me will follow closely, staying out of sight. Your role will remain the same if Black Riot can hold all the aggro on his own. If not, you will join the strike team to clean up any mess left over from the trap."

Wanyama looked at Ivan. "Does that armour of yours enhance the aura of your killing intent?"

"It certainly does." Ivan recalled how his imposing appearance had attracted Salazar in the Vate Prison Realm. His only worry was that his armour's integrity had been compromised.

"Sarah-Ze-Beauty, Onelight, Shecyclones, Am_I_Me, and I will take up strategic points around the trap. I will stand near the trap's exit point, ready to help the aggro-bearers escape any possible pursuit. Shecyclones and Onelight will share an area. The goal is for Onelight to receive protection from Shecyclones, and from that safe distance, Shecyclones can get involved in cleaning up the mess. However, you two should be on your toes. The moment the monsters take aggro on you, you must change your positions. Am_I_Me will do her best to make your escape possible."

Wanyama then gave further, detailed instructions about positioning and the roles the team members under his command would play in their impending raid.

The team leader had received a detailed map from Brainboss_7. The map was contained within a fannypack he wore on his hips. He took out the map and revealed its contents to the team. According to the map's directions, the team's rebellious new members had headed directly north towards a mana pit, where they were bound to find monsters gathered and feeding. As for how the trio intended to deal with it, that was entirely up to them.

Wanyama didn't bother stopping them from heading in that specific direction because he had been informed that the trio had received a proper education on how to navigate a Long Claw rabbit forest. There was a subtle arrangement of trees and a specific thickness of undergrowth that guided one towards a mana pit.

From the map's coordinates, there was a second monster mana pit located five kilometres away from their current position. Wanyama made sure to enlighten the team that the monster rabbits were exceptionally fast and had high endurance. The point at which they stood was where they would set their trap.