“Stop right there!”
Emily knew better than to get careless after watching Kael kill Lorelei with that opening shot. The moment the distance between them stretched a little past a hundred yards, she called for him to stop.
“Dawnbreaker,” she said with a bright smile, “I’ve heard so much about you. Nice to finally meet the legend.”
She patted the Kael clone standing beside her, then tilted her head. “Your clone is wonderful, by the way. Where are the others? Why not send them over too?”
Kael ignored the jab and smiled back. “Miss Emily, you certainly know how to make a first impression. That was impressive.”
Emily giggled. “I don’t mind telling you. My skill charms clones. However many you make, they belong to me.”
“Is that so?” Kael asked. “Then why are you still standing here? Shouldn’t you be out hunting down the rest of them?”
“Oh, I will. But your clone was so strong that I got curious. I had to borrow it and kill a few people first.”
“Now that you mention it, I’m almost afraid to summon any more.”
“Don’t be like that. Summon them.” Emily’s smile turned playful. “Aren’t you at least a little curious whether your clones’ attack range is longer than my casting range?”
“If you’re encouraging me that openly, then you must be confident you can charm them before they ever get a shot off.”
“And if you don’t summon them,” Emily said, stroking the whip in her hand, “then you’ll have to taste your own clone’s damage personally.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Imperator and the others layered buffs onto the stolen clone.
The clone already had ninety percent of Kael’s attributes. With that many buffs stacked on top, Kael would lose if he tried to trade basic attacks with it directly.
But the main body had one advantage no clone could match.
Skills.
Kael could use [Moon Goddess Arrow] and erase the stolen clone in one shot.
But that would not be satisfying.
If he was going to win, he wanted to win cleanly, completely, and in a way that left no excuses.
Then Kael’s expression changed. The faint curiosity on his face vanished, replaced by a colder look.
“Emily, you’re a good actress. Against most players, I think you would have fooled them.”
A flicker of unease crossed Emily’s face.
Kael pointed at her. “You deliberately made me wary so I wouldn’t dare summon more clones. But that was only to hide one thing. You can control only one clone at a time.”
As he spoke, his figure blurred.
Three clones appeared around him.
One fewer than before.
The fact that [Charm] interfered with the original clone skill’s full activation showed just how dangerous Emily’s ability was.
“My skill is definitely limited by yours,” Kael said. “But that doesn’t mean the current you can counter me.”
The three Kael clones rushed forward and engaged the stolen clone.
Imperator immediately realized something was wrong.
He and Emily had refined this plan over and over. Both of them believed that with Kael’s cautious personality, he would never risk summoning clones again after seeing one stolen. That would let them use his own clone against him, combine it with their team’s advantage, and bring him down.
But Kael had gone in anyway.
The psychological trap had not worked on him.
Worse, he seemed to have seen through the weakness of Emily’s [Charm].
She could control only one clone.
The three Kael clones reached the stolen clone in seconds. Two rounds of concentrated fire tore it apart.
Emily was still processing the sudden turn when [Splintering Arrow] swept through her.
She fell before she could make another move.
With Emily dead, the only remaining threat to Kael was gone.
The rest of the battle became simple.
The guild leaders already had better gear overall. Now that Lorelei and Emily, the two players capable of changing the flow of the match, were both dead, it became open season for Kael’s paying customers.
In the end, the 20v20 match ended without real danger.
Fifteen points secured.
After Emily left the Arena, her confidence seemed to deflate out of her all at once.
Imperator walked up beside her. “Vesper, don’t take it too hard. We’ll have another chance to deal with him.”
Emily waved him off and stepped away.
She had met Imperator the day after Village 9139 was destroyed. At the time, she had just completed a hidden quest and advanced her class. After that, Imperator recruited her into his team, and they had practiced repeatedly with one goal in mind.
Defeat Dawnbreaker.
But this time, that opponent had struck her hard enough to shake her confidence.
Could she really threaten him?
Then she received a friend request.
She opened it and saw the sender.
Dawnbreaker.
Emily hesitated for a moment, then accepted.
“Hello,” Kael wrote. “I’d like to be friends.”
Direct as ever.
Emily thought for a moment before replying.
“What kind of friends are we talking about?”
There were many kinds of friends.
Some were good for sharing profits. Some could survive hard times with you. Some would stand beside you in life and death. Some would put a knife in your back the moment it benefited them.
“That depends on you,” Kael replied. “Do you think you can achieve your goal by staying with Imperator?”
“My goal…”
Emily thought of the NPC who had given her the hidden quest.
Then Kael sent another message.
“I know the questline that advances [Charm Witch] into [Queen of Charms].”
“Really?”
Emily nearly jumped.
How did he know about [Queen of Charms]?
This time, Kael did not reply.
Emily waited, but no answer came.
She sent another message.
“How do you know about [Queen of Charms]? And how do you know the advancement path?”
Kael still did not respond.
Emily could no longer sit still.
The NPC who had advanced her class had once told her that if she continued down this path, she could become the revered [Queen of Charms]. But the NPC had not given her the exact method.
By all rights, Emily should have been the only one who knew that.
Did Kael have a related quest?
Or maybe a branching quest that crossed with hers?
At last, she opened the chat with Kael and sent a formal reply.
“I agree to follow you.”
His answer arrived quickly.
“World Tree observation deck.”
Emily hesitated, then replied, “Give me a moment. I need to say goodbye to Imperator.”
“You should.”
Kael grinned and closed the chat.
Emily had no idea that in his previous life, she herself had been the one to tell him about her class advancement.
Back then, when Emily took on the [Queen of Charms] advancement quest, one part of the chain had required Kael’s help. Because of that, he knew the stages of the [Queen of Charms] path extremely well.
Of course, the current Emily was still a long way from that point.
The next stage after [Charm Witch] was [Siren Enchantress], available at level 50.
That was still far off.
For now, recruiting her came first.
Better to bring her under his banner early than let her become a problem later.