Hazel continued to watch the fight between the players unfold through her Astral Eye, completely engrossed in the scene.

"So, how are we going to do this, Nick?" Simon asked, still pointing his staff at Nick. "Are you going to let us leave peacefully? Or are we going to fight?"

"What do you think, asshole?" Nick snarled, gripping his sword tightly while glaring at the glasses-wearing mage.

As the party stood against one another, Hazel used the opportunity to appraise all of the players to see how strong they were. She started with the first two, which were Nick and Simon.

[Nick Parker, Class: Gladiator, Level 27]

[Simon York, Class: Arcanist, Level 27]

Both of them were nearly ten levels lower than Hazel, which made them considerably weak. Then there were their classes, which were completely new to her. If she had to guess, Gladiator was part of the Warrior class, and Arcanist was part of the Mage class. While Hazel could more or less understand what Arcanists could do, she was a bit curious regarding the Gladiator class.

To her knowledge, Gladiators were enslaved warriors who fought in colosseums to act as entertainment for the public. So, if this were a class, how did it actually work? Was there a skill that increased his stats if he was being viewed by multiple people, or maybe a skill where he attacks more flashy and eye-catching, like he was putting on a show?

Now, Hazel couldn't get the idea of the gladiator player fighting like some cartoon character in a TV show. She quickly moved on to the other three players to see how strong they were as well.

[Willow Grain, Class: Healer, Level 24]

[Carter Bennett, Class: Ninja, Level 27]

[Matthew Phillips, Class: Gunslinger, Level 27]

Aside from the woman named Willow, everyone else was level twenty-seven. That and Hazel saw a new class, which was the Ninja Class. Obviously, that evolved from the Rogue Class, but it was still interesting to see one. That and his all-black outfit gave off the impression that he was the rogue of the party.

Standing with the Gladiator were the Healer and Ninja, while the Gunslinger stood by the Arcanist, telling Hazel that he was on Simon's side. What was rather peculiar about the gunslinger was his attire. He wore a brown leather long coat and a cowboy hat, giving him the appearance of a gun-toting outlaw from the Wild West. He kind of looked a bit ridiculous to Hazel. Especially the hat, but she also knew that certain equipment provided plenty of features to make players stronger. So, while the hat made the gunslinger look foolish, it could very well be possible that the hat somehow enhanced one of her stats or maybe even improved her accuracy when shooting.

Either way, Hazel couldn't underestimate him. Any of them, for that matter.

After Hazel appraised the new players, Simon was the first to act as he fired a mana bolt at Nick. The gladiator moved to the side before charging at the mage. The gunslinger then stepped forward and fired at him.

Nick raised his shield, which he wielded along with his sword, blocking the bullets while moving closer to the group. Before reaching the treacherous pair, Simon raised his staff and hurled another spell at the gladiator. It was some kind of wind spell that slammed into him and threw him back against a wall.

"Let's move!" Simon declared, rushing past Nick.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

However, before the pair could move any further, the other two players stood in their way. Carter acted first and blitzed toward the two traitors, preparing to kill them with his daggers. However, Matthew stepped in and blocked the ninja by using his guns.

The ninja was pushed back, allowing the gunslinger to aim his pistols at him and fire. Thankfully, Willow quickly stepped in and conjured a shield of sorts around Carter, protecting him from the spray of bullets. Everyone watched as the bullets bounced off the barrier and fell on the floor with a metallic clink.

Nick was soon back on his feet, and the first thing he did was charge Matthew and shield-bash him. The gunslinger was caught off guard and was pushed off the floor and against the wall nearby. As he pinned his opponent against the wall, Nick raised his sword and prepared himself to take the gunslinger's head, only for Simon to interrupt and knock him back with another wind spell like before.

As Nick tumbled on the ground, Matthew quickly retreated to Simon's side, making sure not to get caught in the crossfire of his partner's spell. Meanwhile, Carter helped Nick up, and the two groups were back to another standoff.

"I wonder when Kane and the others are going to show up," Hazel mumbled, still engaged in the entire battle.

To appease her curiosity, she switched her vision to see where her party members currently were. Much like changing channels, she swapped her vision that was connected to her Astral Eyes, flipping through each one until she found Kane and the others. And it didn't take long before she did.

From what she could tell, they were currently on the third floor, still making their way up. They should've been able to just take the stairs all the way up to the fifth floor, but for some reason, they were sprinting through the third floor like they were in a hurry. Using the same eye that was spying on Kane's group, Hazel sent it over to the stairs where they likely came from and investigated it.

Taking a look inside, she noticed that the stairs leading up to the fourth floor were completely blocked by a pile of rocks in the way. This explained why Kane and the others were currently running around the third floor. They were searching for another set of stairs to get up to the fifth floor.

"Kane and the rest of our group are almost over to where those other players are on the fifth floor," Hazel told Astrid. "You still want to stay here and simply wait around until this whole thing is over with?"

Astrid paused for a moment as if trying to come up with an answer before replying. "You can go up there if you want, but I prefer not to interfere. I don't know those people, and they certainly don't know me."

Hazel narrowed her eyes at Astrid's line of reasoning. "Well, it's your call. Besides, I feel like neither of us really needs to step in anyway. Once Kane and the rest of them get to the fifth floor, the two traitor players are likely done for."

"As it should," The dark elf stated while walking over to the nurse's counter. "Once that brawer and the rest of them join the fight, the traitors' only course of action would be to flee for their lives. In this case, they might jump out the window and run away that way."

Hazel rubbed her chin while contemplating Astrid's reasoning. "Yeah, that sounds about right. Staying in the hospital would only jeopardize them further, giving their enemies a chance to entrap and take them down."

Simon and Matthew's best chance of surviving was to escape the hospital as quickly as possible. Whether that meant running down the stairs until they made it to the lobby or jumping out of the window. Either way, staying there any longer wasn't a good idea.

"Hmm?" Hazel then caught a glimpse of something out of the hospital, through one of her Astral Eyes.

"What's wrong?" Astrid asked curiously.

"I'm not sure," she said hesitantly, still staring through the eye of her Astral Eye. "There's something across the street from the hospital..."

Staring out the window of the third floor, Hazel caught something lurking on the rooftops of the neighborhood buildings. With that same eye, she moved it over to where she saw the finger, curious to know what it was. That was when her eyes widened upon realizing what was happening. Located in the middle of the gathering of buildings, there was a figure wielding some kind of weapon. A bow.

No, it wasn't just a bow. It was a magic bow. Thanks to her Astral Eye allowing her to get a closer look at the person, she could see an arrow completely made of magic being notched back in the bowstring. And the arrow was aimed at the hospital they were currently in. More specifically, the fifth floor was where those players were located and where Kane and the rest of their members were getting to.

"Ah, crap...!" Hazel whirled her head at Astrid. "We need to get to the fifth floor! Now!"

"Wait, what? Why?!"

"Because-!"

Hazel was cut off as she watched the figure from before shooting the arrow at the building, hitting where the fifth floor was. A moment later, they all heard a loud explosion as the entire building began to shake.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.