Afterlife Dream

I didn't know who clicked himself in first. Maybe it was even me, but the Twelve squad won the clicking competition. We spawned in the Fire Golem lair one by one. Unfortunately, I could not say that all of us survived the fight with Dominion just now. Of the originally 30 people who were supposed to run, only 25 were left. 5 had been killed outside.

"We can still do it," ZhaoYun said after checking the squad formation. 25 people meant that there were only four parties, with thankfully four High Priests. One person had to go solo.

"I will go solo," ZhaoYun offered, but Mimi the Mace Master grabbed his shoulder and said that she would go solo instead.

"We don't have enough Spear Masters for Iron Body," she argued. "I am a melee with a helmet. I can solo with potions."

"Alright. Thanks, Mimi."

This time around, we were extra careful with our movement. We only had 25 people and we could not afford to fail even a run. First of all, it was because the raid was going to be deactivated soon. Second of all, it was because Dominion would come again and again to wreck the runs.

Although we were shaken pretty badly from the fight with Dominion players, everyone gave their all for the run. We managed to finish everything in time, and thankfully three helmets dropped. DragonTalon was so touched that he almost cried when he finally got his helmet.

Of the initially 11 helmless people, 5 had gotten their helmets. 6 more to go. That meant that at least two more runs were necessary.

When we exited the lair map, we found a bunch of Twelve members outside, including Aurendiria, Ingenious, and ArrowRain.

"Guys, what happened?" I asked.

"Dominion is being completely unreasonable. Expect to be ambushed tomorrow and the day after tomorrow too."

All of us immediately turned grim, especially the six people who still needed to loot their helmets.

"They ambushed our runs. Can we also ambush their runs? If we also take the 16.00 time slot, then we will all get the six helmets," one of them almost pleaded.

Ingenious shook his head.

"I don't think that is a good idea. That will only give Dominion another reason to continue acting obnoxiously."

"But there are only two 10 AM runs left for Fire Golem! What if we don't have enough drops???"
"I am sorry, but I cannot help you with that," Ingenious shook his head in regret.

The player gritted his teeth.

After we went back to Lava County, three of the six helmless players left the guild. They presumably chose to join the more aggressive Dominion guild instead.

"I can't help them further," Ingenious said in the guild chat after the three players left.

"I am trying my best to cater to their needs, but Twelve is not Dominion. I refuse to lower our standards just for the sake of helmets."

After Ingenious said that, one more player left.

Only two more helmless players were left in our guild. If they were lucky, then they would both get their helmets the next day.

"I am sorry," Ingenious apologized sincerely. "For as long as you are in Twelve, we will all work together to protect and help you. That is all I can promise you."

StellarMage, one of the two helmless players who did not leave, typed in some response.

"Don't worry, Ingenious. I did not join this guild just for the sake of getting helmets and boots etc... I am looking for a safe gaming community to surround myself with. Dominion's cheating and stealing way is not something I agree with."

StellarMage's words were seconded by GRANDARCHER, the other helmless player.

"Well said. I am not going to leave. I like Twelve's culture. Everyone has been so sweet to me from the day I joined. I will stick to Twelve for as long as the guild accepts me. Long live Twelve!!"

"Long live Twelve!!!" I typed into the guild chat.

Everyone else was also doing the same. Although we all were not necessarily in the same location screaming the words, just seeing the wall of "Long live Twelve"s in the guild chat filled my heart with overwhelming warmth. Twelve stood strong amidst the storm.

We still had one level 70 raid that evening. After hearing the details of the fight between the two guilds in the morning, Hime came fully prepared for war. There was a slight change of plan. We were asked to show at 15.30 sharp at the cave entrance, and then a group of the strongest melees and Hime herself would enter first to take a look at the situation inside and report back as soon as possible. Further directions would be given once a report has been made.

Buffs were exchanged between Hime and her party mates before they entered. We all waited with pounding hearts for good news. One minute, two minutes... And then Hime typed in the squad chat, "Come, quick, don't dally."

We all clicked ourselves in as soon as possible after exchanging buffs with party members. As usual, we all spawned on top of the stone platform. Because many people clicked in all at once, we ended up bumping into each other. I swept a glance around me to take in the current situation.

The five strongest melees formed a circle around Hime, and corpses of some players from Dominion lay at their feet. They were mostly ranged attackers. Hime worked as fast as possible to distribute the melees back to their original parties.

"The others will come soon," she hissed. "Attackers, kill their High Priests first and protect our own."

The map was a straightforward one with four camps ahead and Helene at the end. Dominion players poured from within the camps in front of us while we descended the stone steps. The two parties ended up meeting in the middle of the staircase. Just like Hime predicted, they aimed to kill the High Priests first.

Arrows and shooting stars wheezed toward me and the other High Priests from a lot of directions at once. DragonTalon stepped before me and shouted, "Fire Column!!!"

A fire column appeared around me and DragonTalon, burning everything that tried to attack me. It was an advanced skill of a Fire Elemental Mage, an even better shield than the Fire Shield that DragonTalon used to summon.

"Thanks, man," I quickly said between heals.

"Don't be too happy," DragonTalon mumbled. "We are still vulnerable to melee attacks. Swords don't really get burned to dust by fire.

True to his words, when I squinted at the orange layer of Fire Column, I could see the melees of Dominion rushing toward me and DragonTalon. If anything, the Fire Column was like a huge, eye-catching sign that pinpointed my exact location.


"Oh, Shitshitshitshit..."

I had party mates who were very determined to protect me, but they could not block all attacks for me. I was also not the type to just sit still and hide like a coward. Time for me to try something.

"Spiritual Meteor!!!" I shouted as I levitated gracefully into the air. The arrows and shooting stars were still unable to reach me due to the Fire Column, but now the melees were also unable to reach me. The baseball-sized meteors rained down on my enemies' heads and caused them to stumble on unsteady feet around us. Could you imagine having little meteors shooting at your head persistently? The skill was not enough to kill anyone, but it was enough to stun its poor victims. I was not sorry for the Dominion players, and my Twelve guildmates weren't either.

"Very good, Antares!" Hime praised from the side.

The stunned melees were quickly subdued. I was about to launch Prayer when my eyes were suddenly drawn to the digital clock at the sky. 15.56.

"HIME!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

"WHAT???" she screamed back at me.

"It's 15.56!!!!"

Right after I mentioned the time, everyone knew what I wanted to say. Dominion players were trying to distract us from entering the raid! If we had not noticed the time, we would miss the opportunity to click into the lair map!

"EVERYONE, TO HELENE!!! GO GO GO!!!" Hime shouted, there was panic mixed with anxiety in her tone.

We literally pushed through the enemies and ran like maniacs toward Helene. There was only one problem. Although it was a straight path forward, it still took some time to reach the end of the map. Teleport could only help the mages to move faster toward our destination, but it was still not enough. On top of that, we still had to ward off Dominion players who were still persistently attacking us from all sides.

As a result, we did not reach Helene in time. It was 16.01 when we finally arrived, and no Dominion players were in sight. The usually crowded space around Helene was empty.