Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

Jeff and Kaizen managed to get close enough to overhear the thieves' muttering. They were theorizing about what might have happened to the archer who fell from the tree.

This is the perfect time. Kaizen concluded, immediately motioning with his fingers for Jeff to distract the thieves so that he could take advantage of the distraction.

Jeff thought for a moment about what to do. He knew how strong he was physically, but he also knew that his greatest specialty was magic, so it would be stupid to expose himself just to distract them. In this case, he picked up a stone from the ground and threw it in the direction of the underbrush. When the stone fell on some, it shook a bush and made enough noise to attract the attention of the nomadic thieves.

Taking advantage of the impromptu distraction, Kaizen crept up behind the four thieves and silently drew his sword from its scabbard. Without so much as a warning sound, he delivered a precise and swift blow, decapitating one of the thieves from behind. His victim's head fell to the ground with a crash.

The other three thieves immediately turned to try to identify the source of the sound, but Kaizen didn't give any of them time to even think. He quickly spun his sword and struck again, cutting another thief's arm and causing him to drop his grimoire to the ground.

The remaining duo was very surprised, but they didn't stand there like statues waiting to be killed. They immediately drew their daggers and attempted to attack Kaizen in a coordinated rush.

It soon became clear that Kaizen's reflexes and speed were far superior to those of the thieves. He easily dodged each of the thieves' blows and slashed at them with his sharp sword until the third one, after retrieving the grimoire that had fallen to the ground, jumped back and, even without an arm, launched a ball of magical electricity in the psyker's direction.

Raising his left hand, Kaizen was ready to use <Telekinesis> to create a shield to protect himself, only to have a wall of water suddenly appear between him and the orb of electricity, shielding him from the thief's magic.

Kaizen looked over to see Jeff floating beside him with a grimoire the size of a small journal.

This made the Psyker raise his eyebrows in surprise. He had completely forgotten that Jeff was also a mage.

After the quick exchange of glances, Kaizen and Jeff did not need words to know what the other was going to do.

Kaizen continued to fight the two melee thieves, masterfully using his sword to shred them. He was very agile and fast, dodging the thieves' attacks and hitting them with precision.

Jeff, on the other hand, remained focused on supporting Kaizen. He used his Grimoire to summon a plasma beam that hit the thieving mage square in the face, sending him to the ground groaning in pain.

The other thieves turned on Jeff at one point in the fight, trying to strike him with their blades. But Jeff was quick, masterfully dodging their attacks.

Kaizen took advantage of the men's distraction and landed a sharp blow on each of them, leaving a hard-to-heal gash on their backs.

The last two thieves alive were now cornered and wounded, but they would not go down easily. They knew that the sounds of this battle were already echoing throughout the region, and they knew that reinforcements from the camp would soon arrive. So they continued to attack relentlessly.

After about two minutes of intense battle, Kaizen finally saw the window of opportunity he had been waiting for and used <Deep Cut> to plunge his sword into their chest and finally finish them off.

Panting, Kaizen and Jeff looked at each other and nodded proudly. By now, they had both felt the trembling in the ground and knew that a horde of men was running towards them.

"You're a great fighter," Jeff said.

"And you're a better magician than I thought," Kaizen replied, putting his sword in his inventory to use.

As they prepared for the next battle, the sound of galloping rapidly approached. In about a minute, Kaizen and Jeff knew they were surrounded on all sides, with at least three dozen thieves approaching with blood in their eyes.

"Do you have any idea what we're going to do?" Jeff asked the psyker, clutching his grimoire.

Climbing up the hill, the dozens of people with torches, shields, swords, and grimoires finally appeared before them. The faces of the only two fighters from the Rock Thieves' Group were illuminated by the orange glow of the torches, and they heard a series of angry shouts from the nomadic thieves.

"HEHEHE! Today you will die!"

"Here's our dinner!!!"

"They're only two, and I thought this was a group attack. This will be easy!"

"They don't stand a chance against all of us!"

At that moment, Kaizen smiled in his characteristic sadistic way and said to Jeff:

"What are we going to do? Of course we're going to fight until we're the only ones left."

Next, Kaizen charged into battle once again.

In the midst of his charge, he took a small vial from his inventory and threw it on the ground, creating a dense cloud of smoke that spread quickly, leaving the enemies confused and afraid to advance. When the smoke cleared in a few seconds, he was already a few meters away from the thieves and immediately conjured a fireball with <Free Manipulation of Flames>.

The fireball was fired upward by Kaizen, and the thieves almost laughed at him, thinking that he had crudely missed the magic, except that the fireball suddenly exploded, breaking into hundreds of pieces that flew in random directions and scattered across the battlefield, hitting several of the thieves. Meanwhile, Kaizen used his sword to slash at any man who dared approach him.

"Stop him at once!" A mage ordered, and the men with shields rushed towards the Psyker.

Masterfully wielding his sword and using the <Sword Art> skill, no one could stand in front of Kaizen for long. His speed was superior to all of them at this point, and it was almost an unfair fight for them.

Soon, the leader of the nomadic thieves appeared behind them. He wore leather armor and carried a sword that split for two-handed use. The scars on his face and bald head showed that he was an experienced warrior and would not back down easily.

The moment Kaizen's eyes locked on this man, he knew he was in for a challenge. He moved with agility, dodging the blows of the thieves with shields until their leader came close enough to attack Kaizen with his swords for the first time.

Jeff, in the center of the battlefield, used spells to attack the thieves from a distance, creating waves of water that knocked down several enemies at once.

Kaizen was up close and personal with the leader of the nomadic thieves, using the Eye of the Storm Sword, and with each cut from the sword, the cuts on the big bald man's skin seemed to bleed more and more. The battle between them was intense and fierce, and no one dared to interfere. The swords clashed hundreds of times, and sometimes the <Telekinesis> ability would explode when it encountered the opponent's Earth Domain spells. At the same time, they could hear the various sounds of cries of pain echoing through the forest.

Kaizen was not fighting at full strength. In fact, he seemed to be toying with his opponent while the other was sweating from exhaustion.

Suddenly, the group of thieves managed to break through Jeff's defenses and came dangerously close to him. Undeterred, he concentrated on defending himself, creating a bubble of water around himself to protect himself from the arrows and spells that were being fired. In this way, he prevented himself from being hit, but it was undeniable that he was trapped.

At the same time, the leader of the nomads began to fight furiously. He lunged at Kaizen with his sword drawn, but Kaizen was not one to be easily pushed, and he dodged each blow and countered with his sword, slicing through the leader's leather armor and mortally wounding him with each stroke.

When the leader of the nomadic thieves finally fell, the rest of the thieves were desperate, but they wouldn't back down, for now they wanted revenge. However, their thirst for revenge blinded them, as they failed to notice a detail in the forest and were suddenly attacked by Jeff's companions, who appeared from the middle of the dark forest without warning.

Jeff saw his friends through the transparency of the water shield surrounding him, smiled, and thought:

'So, you came without me ordering you, boys..'

...

Edited by: DrHitsuji

If you want to see original illustrations of Rise Online characters, consider helping me on pa treon: Pa treon.com/NandoFalske

More character images in:

https://discord.gg/bpqq9u4gS8

Like it? Add to library!

Don't forget to vote with Powerstone to support the book if you like it...