Ethan leapt diagonally, soaring over the chaotic mass of melee fighters and landing more than five meters away.
As he arced through the air, he used a player’s head as a springboard, launching himself even farther. He repeated this maneuver four times, each leap carrying him further from the chaos. With only two seconds left on his Leap skill, he made one final push, vaulting off another player’s head.
Boom…
The first wave of AoE spells crashed down from the sky.
Transform: Bear!
The moment he shifted forms, countless AoE spells slammed into him, knocking him out of the air. His health, which had been at 10,000 points, plummeted to less than 500 in an instant.
Fortunately, in Ethereal, AoE spells that fell from the sky were typically high-damage, single-hit attacks with no lingering effects. Ground-based AoE spells, on the other hand, were usually damage-over-time (DoT) effects. If Ethan had been hit by those, even a few ticks of damage would have finished him off.
Of course, his +30 reinforced gear also played a crucial role. It allowed him to withstand the barrage without being completely overwhelmed, even in bear form. Still, the ground-based DoT spells were his biggest concern. While each tick of damage was minimal—only 1 point, the sheer number of overlapping spells meant the damage would add up quickly.
Ethan was also grateful that most of the players here had already died multiple times. None of the Cursemancers or Shadow Priests were above level 30. If they had been, they could have stacked debilitating curses on him, which would have been a death sentence. Curses and debuffs were automatically resisted if the caster was more than 3 levels below the target.
Checking his potion cooldowns, Ethan saw that his Instant Health Potion was ready. Unfortunately, he only had one Advanced Instant Health Potion left in his inventory. He quickly downed a Medium Instant Health Potion, restoring 8,500 health.
At the same time, the moment he was hit by the spells, he activated his boot skill: Double Jump.
Ethan didn’t dare land. The ground was a death trap, covered in overlapping DoT spells. He knew that if he touched the ground, he’d be dead within three seconds.
As his body rose from the force of the Double Jump, he saw an even larger wave of AoE spells gathering above him. What could he do? Once he reached the peak of his jump, he’d plummet back to the ground. Even if he didn’t land, the next wave of spells would surely finish him off.
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What Ethan didn’t realize was that the first wave of attacks had come from the 6,000+ ranged players of Dawnbreaker Assembly. This second wave was from the eight other guilds, whose ranged units had started casting their spells a few seconds later.
Ethan estimated that he needed to cover 30 meters to reach the ranged units’ formation. To truly escape the encirclement, he’d need to cross 100 meters to get beyond the ranged players’ perimeter. Once he was out of their range, he was confident he could outrun anyone.
But one thing puzzled him: during his entire fight with the melee units, he hadn’t seen a single Rogue. Where were they?
At the time, Ethan had been terrified that a Rogue might suddenly appear and use an Ambush skill on him. While it was rare for Rogues to participate in large-scale battles like this, he couldn’t rule out the possibility entirely.
But now wasn’t the time to dwell on that. The force of his Double Jump was spent, and Ethan’s mind raced as he tried to figure out how to escape this seemingly inevitable death.
Could he use his Divine Teleportation skill? No, it was unusable. Although he had set a coordinate point in the city and was within the 100-kilometer range, the skill couldn’t be activated during combat.
[Teleportation (Divine): Allows the user to set and record 20 coordinates. The user can teleport freely between these points within a 100-kilometer range. (Can only be used 5 minutes after combat ends.)]
If he could have used it during the fight, he would have done so the moment he secured the loot. There was no point in waiting now.
Ethan quickly scanned his inventory. If only he had a Random Teleportation Scroll! Unfortunately, he had used his last one when he obtained the Divine Teleportation skill.
His gaze lingered on the Prismatic Stone.
A flying stone…
But he dismissed the idea almost immediately. Even if the stone could carry his weight, it was too unreliable. It only flew back after being thrown—who knew if it could fly outward on its own? This thing was too unpredictable.
Finally, his eyes settled on one item. It seemed his only option was to gamble everything on this. He quickly retrieved the item just as his body reached the peak of the Double Jump.
Hum…
The sky above him was filled with the gathering energy of countless AoE spells, ready to rain down destruction.
Ethan aimed the item behind him and pulled the trigger.
Bang…
Whoosh…
A grappling hook shot out from the device, and the recoil propelled Ethan forward through the air. His eyes lit up with excitement, and he nearly kissed the Grappling Launcher in his hands.
The first time he had used this thing, Lyla had almost been knocked to the ground by the recoil. But now, mid-air and without any solid footing, the recoil became his propulsion.
Bang… Bang… Bang…
He fired the launcher repeatedly. He had used it twice before, leaving him with eight shots remaining. Ethan used them all in quick succession, launching himself forward like a human cannonball.
Boom…
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The mountainside shook violently as tens of thousands of AoE spells crashed down, narrowly missing Ethan and slamming into the snowy peak instead. In an instant, the air was filled with dazzling magical light and a thick, white mist. Further up the mountain, an avalanche began to rumble.
Ethan soared downhill, his body descending but the sheer speed of his forward momentum keeping him aloft. In fact, the distance between his feet and the ground was increasing.
"Boss! He’s flying out of here!" someone shouted in the team chat.
The blinding light and mist from the AoE spells made it impossible for Frostflame, who was higher up the mountain, to see what was happening.
"What? Flying out? You’ve got to be kidding me!" Frostflame’s heart sank. He knew no one would report false information, but he still couldn’t bring himself to believe it.