Zero to Peak: Ascension Online

Elliot used his mount to transport himself and his friends to the target zone. As long as the mount was used solely for transport, it could be ridden for up to forty minutes. It travelled at a fast but steady pace that allowed them to reach their target minutes faster than Ivan had reached his.

They didn't get too close to the monsters, maintaining a distance of roughly five hundred metres. This action was a direct result of the lessons they had received about Long Claw Rabbits.

Elliot unsummoned his mount after he and his crew had dismounted. They observed the monsters lost in euphoria and scanned the surroundings to see if any had strayed from the pit, but there was no trace of such activity.

With the tone of a leader, Elliot addressed his team, "This is the real deal. This is our first live battle. This shouldn't be any different from the battles we experienced in the simulation. We just have to apply the same procedures and we'll come out on top. Easy peasy."

"Dazzle, don't mess it up," he said, his tone condescending.

Lauren bit her lower lip. She was reminded of a few events that she would rather not discuss. She simply nodded, signalling that she would try to perform well.

There was no need for Elliot to explain the tactics they would use. He, Paulo, Lauren, and a few of his wealthy friends had frequently practised battle moves before being moved to join the unification programme. The trio had fought together so many times that each of them understood their teammates' skill sets and, by default, knew what tactic to deploy when facing particular monsters.

One commendable trait about Elliot and Paulo was that they were tremendous learners when they chose to be. They had successfully absorbed a vast amount of knowledge about monsters and battle tactics from their private tutors.

"Rarrgh!" Elliot roared as he charged towards the gathering around the glowing yellow pit.

The vacant gaze in the monsters' eyes vanished, replaced with a focused stare. Elliot couldn't move as fast as Ivan did, so the monsters had time to react. Even so, the few monsters that stood in the path of Elliot's charge were unmercifully cleaved into bloody halves by his chilly epic blade.

He raised his weapon to slash down an unfortunate monster that he had just dodged its attack. Suddenly, he stumbled. An unexpected blow to his rib region had knocked him off balance. A quick glance at the attacked spot revealed that his plate armour had suffered no dent. He sliced off the head of the monster he was about to end, allowing himself a brief moment to glance to his left side, where the attack had come from.

It was a freaking Rabbit monster!

It was unusual for these monsters not to follow up an attack. That wasn't what Elliot had to worry about at the moment, however, as a number of rabbit monsters charged towards him. He kicked away the monster that had struck him. The others tried to pile on him, but he slipped away from them and took to his heels, running south. Paulo had already moved farther away from the pit, shifting from his initial position that was five hundred metres away.

Elliot ran past a point, followed furiously by the chasing monsters. Dazzle_Flame was hanging in a tree at this same point. Elliot's escape was smooth. The trees weren't much of an issue for him to avoid; his efforts in private training were finally paying off. Quick thinking and sufficient agility were necessary to navigate past the trees during a chase.

The instant Elliot ran past Dazzle, she began to shadow him. She didn't engage the monsters; she stayed out of sight and followed unnoticed.

Elliot was fleeing with a purpose. He was leading the unsuspecting monsters to fall into a trench, where he would deal with them. Paulo had created the ditch with his formidable pair of premium-grade chain-blades.

Metres away from this ditch, Paulo stood waiting. His arms were half-extended sideways, away from his body. His hands glowed with circles of golden runes.

Elliot saw the ditch and dived into it. The rabbits mindlessly followed him. Elliot was waiting for them. As each of the pursuing monsters launched themselves into the pit, Proud Reaper transformed into a cruel butcher.

The monsters kept coming in fast, and it was harder for him to deal with them.

"Dazzle! You are up for action!" Elliot jumped out of the pit, ran, and stopped at Paulo's side.

Paulo unleashed his spell. A three-dimensional array formation appeared around them, forming a transparent dome over Elliot and Paulo. The formation consisted of floating, independent sections of complex crystalline structures that gave the entire defensive structure a stunning, mysterious vibe.

The monsters got out of the trench, charging towards the defensive dome. They mindlessly and brutally slammed against the dome. They slashed at the dome with their claws and leapt upon it.

Dazzle_Flame appeared from her cover, holding two Molotov bottles. She was about ninety metres away from the action. Most people would doubt their ability to throw from this distance, but she was confident in herself.

She launched the bottles to land in the midst of the battle. Strangely, she hadn't ignited the wick of the bottle, which for her functioned as a stopper. The bottles crashed, and the contents spewed out—a strange gas.

The guys in the dome expressed a malicious smile on their faces upon seeing the bottles crash. The monsters inhaled the gas and simultaneously combusted, detonating like fireworks. The explosion was a gory sight of quick, high-rising blue flames, followed by a spray of bright red liquid mixed with black fur in all directions.

"Fragile Oxygen—one of the many abominations man has created," Elliot commented about what had just happened.

Fragile Oxygen was a highly flammable gas. It rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream, going directly to the process of cellular respiration. The mere involvement of this flammable gas in cellular respiration would result in an explosion.

Dazzle_Flame Lauren was one of the special characters who possessed an inventory right from the start of her journey. She had the ability to identify highly flammable materials and convert them into a Molotov with a mere touch.

The circumstances and place where she had obtained the Fragile Oxygen gas was unknown, and she refused to reveal its source. Lauren's class was Flame-Potion Master.