Evolution Island: Kill to Survive

A new event

Now that the anti-cheat feature had been enabled, it placed both Gilbert and the other players on even ground. The changes took effect immediately, revoking programming privileges for Gilbert and his team of accomplices. However, he still had access to the admin tools which he could use to trigger certain special events and open new dungeons.

Aaron and Zach thought they had finally seized control from the rogue game dev, but they had no idea about what he had in store for them. After a good night’s sleep, the two friends woke up to the sound of roosters crowing in the distance. The first thing Aaron did after opening his eyes was check the Z-band to see if there were any new notifications. To his great relief, no new quests had been added.

A new day lay before them. After having a simple breakfast of milk and fresh mangoes, the two friends started discussing their plans for taking down the first Zone Guardian.

Aaron opened the map on his Z-band and pointed to a special place of interest. “We are going to clear out Exile’s Grotto today. Caves and dungeons always have a special chest containing XP Scrolls. You can use them to restore all the levels you’ve lost. I say, we clear out Exile’s Grotto today and see what we can find.”

“Alright, I’m down. But, I can’t fight anything in this condition,” Zach replied.

Aaron pulled out his Naginata and said, “You don’t need to. I can handle whatever’s down there. Just support me and watch my back.”

The two friends equipped their newly acquired weapons and donned their special gloves and boots. Zach’s Elite Wizard’s robes doubled his maximum EP and added a sufficient amount of magic defence, while his Boots of Haste and Nimble Gloves increased his movement speed and attack speed by 50%. The Elite Olive Staff now allowed him to attack enemies with magic missiles and also charge it up for a powerful magic blast.

Aaron, on the other hand, had a full equipment set and two types of main weapons at his disposal, along with several throwables. Fitted from head to toe in his special martial artist gear, he looked a lot more powerful now. Before heading outside, Aaron opened his profile to re-check his new gear.

[*Weapons*]

1. Two-handed weapon [Polished Naginata: Normal attacks have a 50% chance of inflicting a bleeding status effect.]

2. Thrown weapons [Polished Throwing Knives: Causes armor penetration and deals piercing damage.]

[*Armor*]

1. Head [Apprentice Headband: Increases basic attack accuracy by 20%.]

2. Arms [Chilling Gloves: Adds a slow effect to all basic attacks. Slow can stack against the same target and caps at 50%.]

3. Body [Apprentice Karategi: Adds 5 physical defense and increases attack speed by 20%.]

4. Feet [Boxing Shoes: Increases dodge by 50%.]

[*Accessories*]

1. Rings [Warlock Ring: Cuts EP usage in half.]

2. Necklace [Fortifying Medallion: Adds 500 HP to the health bar.]

Now that Aaron had acquired a complete set of equipment, all his stats were boosted tremendously. He was especially happy with his new weapon, which was a modified wooden pole which had a curved blade attached to its other end. Unlike the Deer Horn Knives, which were only useful in close ranged combat, the Polished Naginata gave him much needed reach. He could now maintain a safe distance from most melee attackers while retaliating with his blade. The weapon also allowed him to use a charged slice attack which could deal heavy damage against lightly armoured targets. He was now sufficiently prepared to venture inside the grotto and deal with the enemies inside.

Kawasha volunteered to join them on their quest, but Aaron wouldn’t hear of it. He had no intention of putting the new Cayuga chief in danger. After a lot of convincing, Kawasha agreed to let them go alone, but he offered to walk them to the grotto.

They had just set foot outside the Cayuga settlement, when both Aaron and Zach received a special alert on their Z-bands.

[*New Event starts in 30 minutes!*]

[Event location: Dewdale Village.]

[Even name: Raptor Rampage!]

[Difficulty: Hard!]

[All players who wish to participate in this event are requested to reach the location before the starting time.]

“What the hell is this now?” Aaron asked with a puzzled expression on his face.

Zach looked at him and shook his head. “I got no idea, but I’m pretty sure Gilbert just found out that we activated the anti-cheat. He’s not gonna take this lying down.”

Aaron tapped the ‘additional information’ icon beside the event headline, but it displayed nothing except the location and difficulty. Evolution Island often had high level raid bosses spawning in random locations during special events, but it was not mandatory for the players to fight them. This event too sounded quite similar. However, this time a location had been specified.

“I think this settlement is going to be attacked by a pack of Raptors in 30 minutes,” Aaron concluded after connecting the dots in his head.

“That’s not possible. This is a safe zone,” Zach countered.

“There are a few exceptions to that rule,” Aaron replied. “You remember the Dark Orcs stormed right in after breaking the gate? The settlements are safe zones only during normal times, but during special events, no place is safe.”

“Then we should get the f**k out of here before the event starts.”

“And what about the Cayuga people?”

“Well, they better haul ass too! Unless they wanna be ripped to pieces!”

Kawasha had been listening to them long enough to understand what was about to happen. “This is our home. We have no place to go,” he cried, his feeble voice barely hiding his fear.

At this Zach ruthlessly took to the young chief. “You guys used to be damn nomads. Pack your stuff and leave while you still can. You can rebuild your home somewhere else.”

“This settlement was built by my father. I cannot just abandon it.”

“It’s not more precious than your life!”

Kawasha looked right into Zach’s eyes and almost broke down into tears. He had already lost his father and now he was about to lose his only home. As the chief of the tribe, it was his duty to protect his people, but he felt helpless in the face of such an adversary. With tears choking his voice, he spoke again. “Even if we leave now, we won’t get very far.”

“What? Why?”

“Most of the women we freed from the Orc camp were so badly tortured by them that they cannot walk without support. Some have broken hips, some have broken ribs and others have broken legs.”

Zach thought about it long and hard and then replied in a stone-cold voice, “Then you should leave the cripples behind and save those who can be saved.”