Evolution Island: Kill to Survive

The burning maw

In every team-based RPG, preparation was the key to success. Assessing a region’s topography and environmental conditions was extremely important in a survival game. From what they had seen of Ashenfort so far, they could guess what enemy types they were likely to encounter, and prepare countermeasures accordingly.

Isabella had created several batches of rare potions at the alchemy lab inside their base on Solaris. Now was the perfect time to put them to good use.  She helped Zach refill his inventory with EP potions and then distributed the healing salves and heat resistance potions equally within the team.

In the meantime, Zach re-examined the scrolls remaining in his inventory. He had already used 3 rare summoning scrolls, which left him with 12 more. Though these scrolls had proved to be extremely useful on Solaris, he doubted how well they would serve their purpose on Ashenfort. Most of the creatures he could summon now were extremely susceptible to fire damage. These scrolls were perfect when going up against predatory animals or large groups of Orcs or Hobgoblins, but they were of little use against elemental constructs like Lava Golems. Zach knew he had to rely on his skills more than anything else.

Madeline took the lead this time, and asked her little sister to watch their backs. In case they came under attack, protecting Zach was the top priority.

As the players trekked across the rocky land, they heard the rumbling of volcanoes in the distance, but fortunately none of them erupted nearby. There was still a lot of ground to cover before they could reach the volcano marked as ‘Mount Valeros’. A few stray Lava Golems flanked their path, now and then, but Zach took them out before they could get close.

When they had crossed the black plains and re-entered the main volcanic zone, the porous black ground was replaced by a scorching red plateau, with veins of lava running on either side. The mountain was getting close now.

Suddenly, they heard barking noises in the distance. Madeline immediately put her guard up. Stopping in her tracks, she surveyed the nearby landscape, but there were no enemies in sight. The barking noises became more distinct after a few seconds, and that’s when she caught sight of something moving in the distance.

“Get ready!”

The players suddenly found themselves surrounded by a pack of ferocious canines. The creatures were quite similar to wolves in terms of size, but their tails were long and slender, ending in a pointed tip which looked just like an arrowhead. From a distance they looked like feral wolves, but as they moved closer, Zach and the others noticed a disturbing facial feature. These canines had flaming red eyes and the saliva which dripped from their mouths was actually red hot lava.

“I’ve never seen dogs like these before,” Zach remarked.

Madeline ran a quick scan using her Z-band and replied, “These aren’t dogs. They are Magma Hounds. Drink your potions now!”

All 3 of them quickly gulped down the Greater Heat Resistance potions and assumed a defensive formation. This time they had just 3 members, which put them at a risk of being flanked from at least one direction.

“Protect Zach!” Madeline commanded, pulling out her Silver Ice Axes. Using a special ability, she boosted her attack speed and damage.

Since the current party members had no weakness to water, Zach didn’t hesitate to use his Pelting Rain skill this time. Just as he prepared to conjure the storm clouds, the hounds rushed in from all sides.

“Fortification! Hercules Aura!” Isabella boosted their defences with her buff abilities and then used her Braveheart to coat her shield with a golden sheen. The Magma hounds which attacked her were sent flying back as they tried to claw at her shield.

While Isabella defended the rear with her defensive abilities, Madeline cleaved through the attackers with her twin axes. The Magma Hounds weren’t as tough as the Lava Golems, since they weren’t made of stone. This allowed Madeline to quickly cut through their flesh, and slice them open. She managed to take out quite a few of the hounds, but their numbers just kept increasing.

Zach’s skill was almost ready to be cast, when a couple of hounds leapt over Madeline and Isabella and pounced on him. This immediately cancelled his skill cast, putting a long cooldown on his Pelting Rain.

“f**k!” Madeline spun around in the blink of an eye and swiftly cut down the hounds attacking Zach. “Are you alright?”

Zach got back on his feet, his robes torn in half and his left cheek badly burnt. “I’m fine, just some minor burns.”

The heat resistance potion had cut down the fire damage he received by half. He gulped down an HP potion and switched to his wand just in time to fire off a charge blast at the leaping hounds. “These f*****g dogs are right in my face!” he shouted, repelling an advancing pair with his Aqua Ball skill. “I can’t cast my high level skills. They keep coming at me!”

“Hold on!” Madeline crouched slightly, closing her eyes and then quickly pulled apart her crossed arms. “Aero Blast!”

This sent out a blast of wind in all directions, inflicting knockback and pushing the hounds away. As they struggled to get back up, Isabella used her Dazzling Flash ability to stun them.

“Quick, now’s your chance!”

Zach tried to cast his Pelting Rain skill again, but the cooldown timer was still ticking. He had to wait 15 more minutes before it could be re-used.

Looking at Zach’s failed attempts, Madeline quickly figured out what was wrong. “Leave it. We don’t have time,” she cried out. “I’ll handle them. You just support me with all your buffs.”

Zach didn’t know what she planned on doing, but followed her command without question. He cast his Stone Armour skill to boost her defence and then enchanted her twin axes with the water element.

“That’s not gonna cut it. I need more buffs!” Madeline exclaimed, with urgency in her voice. The Magma Hounds were starting to get back again.

“I don’t have any more buffs, but I can debuff the dogs and make them weak,” Zach responded. As he prepared to cast his debuffs, he asked, “You’re gonna need AOE skills to take them out. There are too many of them.”

“I got this.” Madeline stretched out her arms and shouted, “Activate ability: Blade Twister!”

As she spun up and transformed into a steely twister, Zach cast his most powerful debuff, ‘Mermaid’s Symphony.’ This skill instantly reduced elemental resistance of all enemies around him by 50% and their attack power by 25%.

Madeline’s dual axes, now enchanted with the water element, sliced through the Magma Hounds like butter. She kept spinning like a twister, rampaging across the plateau and cutting down enemies all around. Since these canines didn’t have any s***h resistance, she had no problem decimating the entire pack.

When Madeline’s killing spree ended, she took a moment to catch her breath, before walking back to the team. Zach had never thought he’d compliment her on anything, but he had to give her credit this time.

“That was neat. I’m glad we have a berserker in the team.”

“I’m glad we’re all still in one piece,” Madeline replied. “These hounds were fast, but quite easy to deal with for a melee attacker like me. I got a feeling there’s something far more dangerous waiting for us near the volcano.”

Led by Madeline, the players made their way to the marked area. Standing at the foot of the gray volcano, they re-checked their maps. They were standing right where the marker indicated, but there was no enemy in sight. Just then, the quest was updated.

[*Quest update: Destination reached!*]

[*New objective: Descend to the heart of the volcano to find the Revival Gem!*]