The world was still a bit blurry as Jaina tried to focus on what was happening around her. Two men had come to their rescue and now stood defiantly in the path of their enemies. One was a powerful lizard man with rippling muscles, the other something more akin to human but not quite. He had pale white skin with a gray hue and dark amber eyes. His hair was a crown of small spikes, with small pointed ears. He wore chains around his arms that appeared to be forged out of shadows that smoldered in the light.
Zorac pointed to the archer in the trees and told the man to pull her down. The gray man swung an arm, and a chain ending in a razor-sharp hook raced out. It tangled the shooter, and with a jerk, he plucked her from the branch, tossing her at Zorac's feet. She lifted an arm to scream as that spiked club came down with both hands lending strength to the blow. The gray man lashed at her, too, the hooks of his chains tearing her armor open. She turned to get up, staggering to her feet as Zorac landed another blow, tossing her into the forest like a bundle of trash. Jaina sat there stunned as he turned to face the other aggressors and tightened his grip on the club.
"Leave now, and you can keep your gear," Zorac said threateningly.
"The notice said nothing about a lizard man and a gray walker," a woman in white and blue said as she gestured to them with her staff.
"They must be here to steal the kills," A short man with a spear said.
The stone man in metal plates stamped a foot to get Zoarac's attention and pointed his hammer at the lizard man. "We ran these fools down. The XP and treasure is ours."
"I don't want the XP or the treasure," Zorac said as he locked eyes with the giant warrior. "I want to stop you from killing my friends."
"What are you doing?" the stone-skinned man asked as Evalynn backed away, heaving for breath from her exertion. "You aren't actually going to defend them?"
"Of course, he considers them friends," one of the women said. "He's a filthy beastman like that gnoll we killed. Their kind always sticks together like rats."
"That's because only a beastman will tolerate another beastman," one of them said.
"These people aren't slavers," Zorac said as he ignored their sharp words. "Those notices about what they are doing are lies."
"Who cares," the dagger woman laughed. "They have treasure and experience; that's all that matters to us."
"And you will just add to the total," the stone man said with a smile as his hammer began to glow blue. They took a threatening stance, preparing to attack as a group while Zorac stood before them defiantly and smiled.
"So be it," Zorac said as he lifted his club.
Jaina was awe-struck as Zorac rushed in, his club blurring as it turned into a cloud of clubs, all battering the giant man. Evalynn moved to stand at his side, hoping his help would turn the tide. The gray walker lashed out with long chains, swinging his hooked blades with deadly accuracy. Skills and powers went off like fireworks at a display as Zorac used a taunt to turn foes his way.
Jaina climbed over Gisley and pressed her lips to the motionless fairy. She tried again to heal her before it was too late, taxing her already low stamina. She glanced back to see Zorac taking the brunt of the beating as he struggled to drive the mass of players back. Tears came to Jaina's eyes as she poured more healing into Gisley, but finally, the fairy opened her eyes and reached up with a weak hand.
"Did we die?" Gisley asked, not yet aware of what was going on around them.
"Gisley, get up!" Jaina pleaded. "We are still holding on. Zorac and a friend came to save us but they are outnumbered."
Gisley sat up slowly to see Chandice on her hands and knees, pointing to the battle with one hand to send two imps into the fray. The main battle was a collision of two warriors, one a mountain of metal and stone, the other of scale and muscle. She immediately recognized Jaina's lover but hadn't a clue who the gray person was. Still, he was fighting beside Evalynn and Zorac, so she knew who her friends were.
"Help me up," Gisley said as she still suffered from weakness. She saw the arrows and spells flying from the tree line and immediately blinded the area with a cloud of swirling glitter.
[lvl 10 Lunar Fairy Skill: Glitter storm] Create a five to twenty meter cloud of swirling glitter that blinds foes that rely on traditional sight to see. Lasts up to ten minutes.
Then she turned on Evalynn, who was barely keeping her feet, the wounds finally taking their toll. She raised a cupped hand and blew out a stream of glitter before uttering the words. "I love you."
[lvl 20 lunar fairy skill: blessing of love] Bless a target with a complete recovery of health, mana, stamina, and special power bars. All bars are increased by 20% for 12 hours. It can only be used once per day.
Evalynn glowed with white light, then surged with renewed vigor, exploding into special moves and powers. Gisley wasn't done yet as she finally looked to see the full scope of the battle and realized they were still outnumbered. They had three solid fighters against a dozen, and Zorac was already taking a beating.
She threw back her head and called out in a musical voice as a cloud of light coalesced around her. It became a swirl of butterflies and they raced out like bullets, striking foes in all directions as if they had been shot with arrows.
[lvl 35 Lunar Fairy Skill: Swam of dancing light] With a sweet call, you create a cloud of butterflies or moths if at night that swarms about you for a few seconds, then race outward in all directions. They strike foes as if magical arrows, doing piercing damage followed by magical force damage. The range is ten yards, and the number of targets hit is a maximum of thirty. The fewer targets in range, the more times they will be hit to a maximum of five hits each.
Cries of rage went up at the sudden hail of deadly butterflies, but it still wasn't enough. Jaina could see that several of their numbers were healers and were hard at work undoing the damage Gisley caused. Jaina implored Gisley to put the healers to sleep so Gisley tried, dousing one of them with glitter only to have a magical bubble appear.
"She is shielded," Gisley said. "I can't do a thing to stop her."
Jaina pressed her lips to Gisley again, determined to heal her enough to fight with her sword. Jaina's stamina was getting low, but maybe if Gisley could join the combat, it would be enough.
A powerful blow from the stone man's mallet staggered Zorac, and he nearly fell over. However, he quickly recovered and returned the blow, bending the man's armor with a massive strike from that heavy club.
"You beastmen are all filthy mongrels," the man roared into Zorac's face.
"Look, whose talking," Zorac shouted back. "I don't recall a Rokerin being considered a polite race."
"We look noble and pure," the man shouted as he tried to land another blow. "Unlike your filthy animal form. The visitors should have made all beast races monster players."
"So you kill people solely based on their appearance," Zorac shouted back. "That makes you scum. You need somebody to hate to validate your existence. You have all the worst qualities of humanity."
"It's just a game," the woman with the magical daggers replied as she dashed in and cut Zorac twice. "And all we want is the experience. You had your chance to side with us. Now you can die with them."
Zorac took another blow from that hammer and fell to the ground as Jaina got up to run to him. The gray walked wrapped Evalynn in chains and yanked her out of the way of a pillar of fire, then dived to intercept Jaina.
"No!" he said as he practically tackled her. "Just leave him be."
"But they are going to kill him!" Jaina pleaded with renewed tears in her eyes.
"Oh, people are going to die, alright," the man said as he looked back at Zorac as the heroes closed in on him. "But it isn't going to be who you think."
Zorac had his back to the group as he got to his hand and knees, clutching his club as he took deep breaths.
"No more heroic talk?" the dagger woman asked. "Maybe you will learn to keep your mouth shut next time."
"We tried to reason with you," the giant man said as he stood over the beaten lizard man. "But you beastmen aren't worth reasoning with."
"No," Zorac replied as his hands began to curl into fists. "You are the ones who aren't worth reasoning with, and I am done playing with you."
Zorac looked up, and Jaina met his gaze as she reached out a hand as if to save him. He silently mouthed the words I love you as red fire filled his eyes.
"What is this?" the wizard woman asked as a red glow covered Zorac's body. He twitched and lurched as he began to laugh with a wicked rumbling cackle. The group stepped back as his skin began to crawl with red electricity, as the flames in his eyes intensified.
Jaina looked on in shock as he began to grow, his already powerful frame getting larger. Bone spikes tore through his skin at his shoulders, back, elbows and knuckles, even making a fan of spikes at the tip of his tail. He stood slowly, his powerful frame now a hulking mass of unrestrained muscle and bone.
"Oh crap!" the dagger woman said as she backed away from the titan. "Hes a friggan bone spike berserker!"
Zorac threw his arms out as he roared like a creature from some dark abyss and ran at the enemies with madness in his eyes. He towered head and shoulders over the stone warrior who was thrown from his feet by the first blow of that club.
Spells and arrows rained down on him, but he was driven mad by rage, shrugging off the blows as he ran down player after player, punching, biting, and pummeling them into paste. He used the woman in blue as a club, beating a dwarf to death with her limp body as Jaina and the others watched in awe.
"Stay here," the gray walker urged as he got up. "Zorac has a little trouble with friend or foe when he goes berserk." He lifted a hand and encased them in a bubble of shadows, hiding them from the monstrous frenzy of death going on across the field.