Evolution Island: Kill to Survive

A deadly combo

At first, the Orc Riders took the raptors by surprise with their quick spear thrusts. However, the advantage was short-lived. The raptors coordinated much better than the Orcs and soon surrounded them from all sides.

Claws ripped through the wolves and hungry jaws tore off the heads of the Orcs. The raptors were excellent jumpers and quickly pounced upon the Orcish attack party. The Orcs fought till their last breath, taking out a few dinosaurs and slowing them down.

Aaron knew these wild Orcs wouldn’t be able to kill the raptors, but his purpose had been achieved. They had caused enough mayhem to slow down the pack hunters.

“Mawanko, give your men orders to attack!”

As soon as Aaron gave the command, Mawanko and his group of hunters loaded their slings and shot out a volley of Frost Shards. Boosted by the Hawk Eye skill cast by the village elder, their shots all hit the mark. The Velociraptors froze midway, trapped in chunks of ice. Aaron had them exactly where he wanted.

“Kawasha, it’s your turn now!”

“Let’s go men! It’s time to make our ancestors proud!” Kawasha rushed outside accompanied by his group of gatherers. They all carefully took aim and chucked the conical vials full of the strange yellow-green liquid at the immobile Velociraptors. The glass shattered on impact, splashing the thick sticky liquid all over their scaly hides.

“The ice is breaking! Retreat!” Aaron yelled just in the nick of time.

Kawasha and his men ran back to the safety of their village, while Aaron stepped forward. Pointing his right palm forward, he shouted, “Double Flame Barrier!”

Immediately, flames erupted from the ground, forming two walls, one behind and the other in front of the raptor pack. The ice melted at last, but now the raptors could neither go back nor charge forward. Aaron smiled as he pointed both palms at the dinosaur pack. “You may be smart, but you ain’t smart enough. Scorching Heat!”

Panicked screeching noises echoed into the night as the ground underneath the raptors’ legs turned red. And after a momentary delay, the whole area was set ablaze. Coated in liquid fat, the Velociraptors had become even more vulnerable to fire attacks. This boosted Aaron’s fire damage by 50% and inflicted massive damage to the entire pack.

A few raptors tried to escape the kill zone by running right through the flame walls. The leader of the pack was the first to come screeching through the fire and was soon followed by the other surviving raptors. Still on fire, they all ran straight towards Aaron, but he didn’t move an inch.

The raptors who had managed to flee the kill zone had already suffered heavy damage. Aaron’s Z-band automatically scanned the approaching enemies and displayed their HP bar. It had all gone exactly like Aaron had expected. The raptors had only a fraction of HP left and that too was dipping fast due to the constant burn damage. By the time they managed to reach the gates of the settlement, the burn damage finished them off.

The AOE damage of 'Scorching Heat' would never have been enough to kill these fierce pre-historic carnivores. So, Aaron had first coated them all in a sticky liver oil to make them more vulnerable to fire. This not only dealt extra fire damage but prolonged the burning status effect. As Aaron’s EP bar drained out completely, the fires eventually stopped burning and all that was left behind was the burning Velociraptor bodies.

“Hell yeah! Take that Gilbert!” Zach shouted ecstatically. “Only you could have planned out a defence in such a short time. That was freaking crazy,” he said, bumping his fist with Aaron.

“I had plenty of support. These guys made my job a lot easier,” Aaron replied, breathing a sigh of relief.

“To our saviours! Aaron and Zachary!” Kawasha exclaimed aloud. Mawanko and his hunters thumped their chests to celebrate their victory and lavished praise upon their new chief, before kneeling before Aaron and Zach.

“I still cannot believe we fought against the great beasts and lived to tell the tale,” Mawanko spoke between his quickening breaths. He could still feel the rush of adrenaline. His fingers were cold and his limbs shaking uncontrollably.

“This victory belongs to you guys,” Aaron replied, pulling Mawanko back up.

The women and children slowly started coming out of their shacks. They thought the danger had passed, but it proved to be a fatal mistake. An ear-piercing shriek sent shivers down their spines and before they could even turn around, a Velociraptor jumped over the back wall and pinned down a woman with its claws.

“Get back everyone!” Aaron pulled out his Naginata and rushed to save the woman. Alas, he was just a few seconds late. The raptor jumped on top of the woman and tore open her stomach.

“This cheeky bastard!” Zach quickly activated his illusion ability and sent out a couple of magical clones to distract the raptor. “You heard what he said! Get the f**k back!”

While the raptor was distracted by the clones, the tribals ran away from it and gathered around Kawasha.

Aaron closed the distance with a quick Blade Dash and sliced through the raptor’s hide. The injured raptor whipped its tail and smacked Aaron away. He landed on an earthen water pitcher, shattering it to pieces.

“Stone Armor!” Zach boosted Aaron’s defences just before the raptor pounced on him.

“Aim for the beast!” Kawasha shouted, rousing his men out of stupor. The hunters had run out of Frost Shards, so they shot out sharp stones instead.

“Magic missiles!” Zach kept attacking the raptor with his magic, sending out multiple red bolts at the beast. The magic attacks caused it to back away immediately, giving Aaron the chance to escape.

Aaron’s left shoulder had been cut open by the raptor’s claw, and he had lost 80% of his HP in that single blow. Using his Z-band’s scan feature, he assessed the raptor’s remaining HP and was shocked to see it was well over 1000. His normal basic attacks weren’t going to do enough damage to kill it. And all his high-level skills required time to cast.

“You’re bleeding! Drink a potion!” Zach shouted from behind, but Aaron replied in the negative. Having low HP would trigger his Orcish Rage adaptation and help him deal critical damage with every attack. It was an extremely risky strategy, but Aaron couldn’t think of any other way to quickly take down a creature with such high HP. Since Velociraptors were highly intelligent pack hunters, there was a possibility it could call out to its other buddies in the forest. That was a chance Aaron wasn’t willing to take.

The Raptor looked pissed now. The magic attacks had poked holes into its face, the size of grapes. Though the magic missiles didn’t do too much damage, they hurt like hell.  Maddened by the stinging sensation, it let out another fierce screech and charged at Zach.

“Not so fast!” Aaron stepped in its path. “Flame Barrier!”

A screen of fire split the settlement in half. The raptor didn’t stop, but ran straight through the wall of fire, ignoring the fire damage. Aaron was standing ready on the other side. “Naginata Full Charge! Adrenaline Rush! Indomitable Strength! One with the Wind!”

Combining 3 abilities together, Aaron increased his strength, boosted his attack speed and boosted his sword’s damage. The blade flashed silvery white in his hand as he charged straight at the enraged carnivore. A gleam of light burst forth from his weapon and he slashed with all his strength. The Naginata’s devastating charged attack sliced the raptor in half, splashing its blood all over Aaron’s new clothes.

Aaron walked up to the dead raptor and absorbed its DNA. It unlocked a rare adaptation which he had never heard of before. The Z-band buzzed alive once more, congratulating him on completing the event.

[*Raptor Rampage: Complete!*]

[All raptors have been killed]

[+5000 XP]

[*Achievement Unlocked: Chief Warrior!*]

[50000 Sky Gems Acquired!]

[1 new adaptation acquired:

1. Pack Hunter: Greatly increases attack damage if in a party. Each party member adds +25% extra damage.]

This was the first passive ability which gave a boost to the player’s whole party. Aaron knew it would come in handy while fighting the Zone Guardians. While the cool new adaptation was good enough, it wasn’t the only special reward Aaron had acquired. He also obtained a pre-historic treasure chest.

Aaron opened the chest at once and inside he found a rare enchanted weapon. It was a special chain whip made out of cured jute with a shiny steel tip. What made it even more unique was that this weapon could only be acquired by completing an event.

Taking the chain whip out of the chest, Aaron showed it to Zach.

“Is that?” Zach gawked in surprise, hardly able to believe his eyes.

Aaron nodded and replied, “Behold, the most OP whip in the game—Kurosagi! This can penetrate the thickest of plate armour and puncture the toughest of hides. It’s just what I needed!”

The rare weapon which Aaron had obtained had the special ability to ignore all physical defence of the target and deal true damage. And that was just its most basic power. What really made it a highly valued weapon was its special talent, which could be used just once. When activated by the user, this weapon could enchant itself with any element in the game and inflict special elemental damage on all enemies. The fact that the player could randomly choose any element in the game, even magic, made it a perfect weapon for boss fights.

“I guess it was worth it,” Zach remarked.

Aaron put away all his weapons and gulped down a health potion. “I think we are as ready as we’ll ever be. It’s time to take down the Flame Barghest!”

No sooner had Aaron spoken those words, a brilliant fireworks display lit up the sky. Another global announcement appeared in bold red letters.

[*Flame Barghest has been killed!*]

[*Stone Golem has been killed!*]

[2 Zone Guardians remaining!]

Since Aaron and Zach were nowhere close to the Zone Guardians, it could only mean one thing. The other 4 challengers had killed the two bosses. They had to hurry if they wanted to make it to the other two in time. Without killing at least one of the Zone Guardians, they wouldn’t be given access to the next island. Apart from that, each Zone Guardian also dropped an Evolution Orb upon death, which was the only item which could upgrade their Predator rank and turn them from Fledgling to Adult, giving them access to upgraded skills.

Aaron knew they couldn’t wait a moment longer and immediately opened the map on his Z-band. Pointing at the cave named ‘Knight’s Folly’, he declared, “We are going for the Cyclops first! Check your gear and prepare to move out!”