Chapter 132: No Survivors
What should you do when you run into a tsunami?
Although there are actually no right answers, holding their hands over their heads was clearly not the Players’ style.
In reality, Marni and the others weren’t too far from the Frogmen Village, and they just might reach it before the tsunami arrived.
After that, they only had to use the Lifestone in the Frogmen Village and teleport to the Unnamed Town or Lancaster for salvation, since most tsunamis would only extend several miles from the coast. It would definitely not reach the Unnamed Town which was dozens of miles away, much less Lancaster which was half a mile away.
In fact, many other Players apart from Ivan and Marni had intended to do that, with every last one of them dashing wildly towards the village as well.
But Marni suddenly remembered one serious problem.
“Don’t run off!” He yelled at the Players who had yet to escape. “The Frogmen who haven’t contracted with us can’t be revived! Half of them would die if the tsunami hits their village directly!”
The other Players only realized that thanks to Marni’s warning.
And yet, humans who had yet to reach the level of legend were insignificant in the presence of such natural calamity.
Even though Xi Wei had mentioned in the Players’ Cla.s.s Manual that Tide Callers could stir tsunamis, that skill was a late-game technique which demanded high player-level. Moreover, even if there was a Player who could cast it, man-made tsunamis would still be dull in comparison to natural ones.
After all, as a sub-deity to the Ocean G.o.d, the Aquatic Lord’s power only involves the sea by the slightest of fractions. It ultimately wasn’t his job, and since the power that Xi Wei plundered was a defective version in the first place, it was impressive that he could use that aspect and independently create the Tide Caller cla.s.s. As such, there was no way he could excessively pursue strength…
“That’s true, but what should we do?” The other Players turned instinctively, their eyes fixing upon Marni. “Our strength alone is impossible to stop that ma.s.sive tide, right?”
“Calm down. We are not fighting the tsunami—we just have to weaken the wave hitting the village!”
The truth was that Marni did not have experience dealing with tsunamis either, but being the Players’ temporary leader, he shouldn’t be blundering around. “Do it as usual: warriors up front and cast every defensive skill, anything you could block counts. Clerics stay behind, buff HP and cast skills. Every other cla.s.s, fire everything at the wave. Don’t spare any mana!”
He didn’t make everything clear, but the other players basically knew what he was talking about.
They were going to die there. The force of the tsunami was nothing to be fooled around with, and chances to survive were beyond fractional. In fact, it was possible their effort might all mean nothing.
The other Players might not reach here in time to revive them either, which meant they were all definitely going to be locked up for three days in that little dark hut.
Nevertheless, none of the Players ran away.
The Frogmen Village was an ally of Church of the G.o.d of Games, and many frogmen had already dedicated the latter half of their lives to Players as their followers, contributing however they could in their adventures.
As such, the Players should protect the Frogmen Village be it out of sentiment or reason.
Perhaps their effort might be of no use, but in the very least, they must stand before the village and strive to protect it right now.
Icepicks, fireb.a.l.l.s, chain lightning—without regard for effectiveness, all the Players who had yet to change their cla.s.s were pouring out their spells at the superma.s.sive tide bearing down on them, ready to devour heaven and earth.
At the same time, Players who had changed cla.s.s to Tide Callers were all casting skills like water gun, water cannons, hydro pump, or summoning cyclones to do whatever they could in weakening the force of the tide. It was just a pity that as the tide loomed ever closer, it was not even reduced in height—not one bit.
When the tide was about two-hundred meters away, the Clerics raised a radiant sacred shield as far ahead as they could. But even if they were immeasurably reliable against normal foes, it was promptly overloaded and crushed the moment the tide touched it, reduced to countless triangular fragments that faded within the tide.
“Jarvis!”
Marni cried, and a cool golden-red set of steel armor immediately enveloped his body as he led the Warrior-cla.s.s Players to raise the last line of defense with their very own bodies.
Be it in their mind or that their determination turned out to be useful, the tide seemed to slow down every little bit.
Nevertheless, the Warrior Players all had their HP bars emptied in the very next instant. Their st.u.r.dy armor was hammered and flattened by the enormous force of the tide, while their bodies were blasted away and caught in the undercurrents as nothing more as waste.
Marni’s st.u.r.dy full-body armor did not last long either, since his armor was not some steel battle armor equipped with quantum anti-shock capacity that could divert the terrible momentum from the tsunami tide, which in turn reduced him to mincemeat covered in iron. In fact, he was the first to die since he had valiantly stayed ahead of the rest of the players.
Naturally, the Players of every other cla.s.s did not flinch. As the tide approached and they were awash under the profound soul-crushing might of nature and every part of their bodies shuddered, they forced out every last bit of their strength to cast their last skill.
In the end, the thirty-three players outside the Frogmen Village all died without retreating in their battle against their invincible foe, the tsunami.
And thanks to their effort, the frogmen were only injured thanks to their experience with tsunamis and preparations, even though their village was left devastated. As more Players rushed to the scene, even the critically injured were rescued with no casualties!
“Your names shall be remembered and your accomplishments known eternally!”
There were a million things waiting to be done in the Frogmen Village after the tsunami struck. The Frogman Elder stood wobbly atop the conch roof, mourning the Players who died valiantly.
Meanwhile, those same honored players were raising h.e.l.l in the forums. They didn’t want such honors because it felt like they had really died, and it was better to give them some game currency and EXP as rewards in return.
But even as the other Players were making noise as always, Angora had hurried back to the unnamed town and visited the Frogmen Village for the first time.
He felt that something wasn’t right.
“This is quite a big deal, but why didn’t the G.o.d of Games react at all?”
He looked out at the distant sea even as those misgivings clouded his mind, noticing then that something had appeared over the sea surface that should have been flat…