Evolution Island: Kill to Survive

A leader’s burden

As the Lava Golems continued hurling rocks at Aaron’s team, Isabella’s shield began to weaken. She did her best to use her defensive buffs to prolong the Golden Barrier ability, but it took a heavy toll on her body.

“I...can’t hold up the shield...any longer.”

“Zach, you heard her! Cast your skill! ” Aaron yelled.

“I am level 25 now! You f*****g know what that means,” Zach shouted back. “My skills deal 150% more damage against fire-based life-forms. And they prevent HP regeneration!”

“I know that.”

“Then you also know that you’re gonna f*****g die! These f*****g stupid golems!” Zach channelled all his elemental energy to his cupped palms and unleashed a powerful torrent of water at the enemy. The Aqua Blast skill could only be used in a straight line, but he managed to bend the flow of water and target all the golems advancing from the front. The attack was super effective against the Lava Golems, wiping out a dozen in one hit. This, however, made little difference now. Even more golems had spawned from the surrounding boulders. What they faced now was a whole army of Lava Golems, numbering over 200.

“You can’t kill them by yourself!” Aaron grabbed Zach from behind and pulled him back forcefully. “Stop wasting your EP. You have to use your Pelting Rain skill right now or we are all gonna die!”

“What does Pelting Rain do?” Madeline asked.

It was Zach who shouted out the reply, “It f*****g makes it rain all around me. And damages all fire-based life forms in the vicinity.”

“That means it will hurt Aaron too.”

“It won’t hurt him. It will f*****g kill him!”

Before Aaron could respond, a massive rock came crashing through Isabella’s barrier. The shield flickered for an instant and then disappeared completely, leaving them defenceless.

“It’s either me or all of us!” Aaron declared. “Use your God damn skill!”

“Fine!” Zach shouted, breaking free from Aaron’s grasp. Raising his hands above his head, he pointed at the sky. His eyes rippled with waves as he looked up at the sun and uttered the words to cast his skill.

“Use skill: Pelting Rain!”

Dark gray clouds gathered overhead and then, with one roaring cry, the sky lit up with a forked thunderbolt. The golems stopped in their tracks as the clouds burst at their seams and washed the volcanic plain with rain. The downpour intensified with each passing second, drenching everything under the sun.

Aaron gulped down a full restoration potion, but it had no effect. His defence dropped to zero and then his HP started dropping at an alarming rate. The searing pain made him scream in agony as the water droplets trickled down his skin. He fell on his knees and clutched at his chest.

“Isabella...now’s your chance. Use your...mace.”

Those were the last words that came out of Aaron’s mouth, before he crashed face first into the ground.

Zach kept going, fighting back his tears. He wished he hadn’t listened to Aaron.

Isabella was so horrified by what had happened that she didn’t know what to do. The team leader they were rallying behind was now gone. She looked at his HP bar reduced to zero and then stared at his lifeless body.

“My skill doesn’t have enough damage to kill them. You have to deliver the final blow!” Zach cried out.

“You heard him, Izzy,” Madeline activated her Furious Gale skill to slow down the advancing golems and buy some time for her sister. “Hurry up, we need your help!”

Isabella slowly turned her face away from Aaron’s lifeless body. Her fingers trembled as she gripped the mace with both hands. She didn’t even look up, but raised the mace high in the air. Staring blankly at the rocky ground, she spoke in a barely audible whisper.

“Activate weapon talent: Thousand Pounder.”

The mace vibrated in her hand as the talent was triggered. Soon after, a thousand magical maces appeared overhead. They were all identical to the one Isabella was holding, with just one notable difference—the conjured maces were all enveloped in dark energy.

“Plummet!” Isabella shouted, rapidly lowering her own mace.

All the floating maces acted in sync, and came crashing down on cue. The Lava Golems, already weakened by the rain, were shattered to pieces as the maces landed on their stony heads. Pieces of rock scattered all around as dust and debris covered the volcanic plain. Isabella’s attack had such a huge area of impact that it destroyed every single golem in sight.

When the dust settled, Zach looked around to assess the situation. The whole army of Lava Golems had been wiped out and pieces of igneous rocks littered the ground. Some of the golems had also dropped a few purple coloured orbs. Since they were inanimate objects with no organic matter inside, they didn’t yield any DNA samples, but they did leave behind traces of magic residue. Zach didn’t bother collecting the loot. It was all useless now.

“You just had to do this to me.” Zach broke down in front of Aaron’s body. He wasn’t a leader like Aaron and now he was stuck on an unfamiliar island with a couple of strangers. Ashenfort didn’t have any human settlements and he didn’t see any shrines marked on the map.

“This island must have a save point somewhere. Don’t worry, we will bring Aaron back,” Madeline assured.

“It’s a god damn volcanic zone! The whole map is f*****g empty! There are no shrines or temples anywhere.”

“This is just the first zone. Maybe the next zone has all the shrines,” Madeline continued calmly.  “We will find a way to make him re-spawn, but we cannot stay here any longer. We must keep moving and try to find shelter before nightfall.”

 “Good luck with that, but I’m not taking my chances over here.  I’m going back to Solaris.”

“So you’re just gonna abandon your team? Are you sure this is what he’d have wanted?”

“Aaron is my first priority. He would have done the same for me.” Zach looked her in the face and scoffed, “We both know that you don’t give a damn about him. You can drop the act now.”

Madeline clenched her fist, holding in her anger. “Fine, do it your way. We can manage without you.”

As Aaron’s body disappeared, Zach slowly stood up. Isabella wanted to stop him, but Madeline pulled her back. Without sparing another word, Zach walked away from the two girls. He was planning to swim across the ocean and reach the human settlement on Solaris before nightfall.

A minute’s walk brought Zach back to the jagged coastline. He was about to dive into the water, when some invisible barrier stopped him. A notification popped up on his Z-band.

[*Global Travel Locked!*]

[*Players cannot travel to Solaris at the moment*]