Each passing hour meant Lillith could be further from the World Tree. Teefa had trouble deciding if she should expand the search radius to match or continue as she had in the assumption that Lillith was going slower to avoid detection.
She'd decided to go with the former, but kept Lostone searching the inner perimeter. She was flying at a speed much slower than she was capable. She needed to search this area a bit more careful with the thick trees. Yet more delays, but there was no helping it.
"That's her," someone screamed.
Surprised, Leefa turned her attention to the source only to see a mob that had suddenly started coming at her, led by a Leprechaun she'd never seen before.
Turning in the opposite direction to escape the fight, she saw yet more coming at her in the distance.
There were too many for a reasonable chance at fighting past the PKers, and she didn't have the slightest idea why they were after her in the first place, but the drawn swords and the battle screams that followed made it clear beyond any doubt that it was definitely Leefa the "her" was referring to. The mobs were made of several races, including a couple of sylphs, so it wasn't racial prejudice.
She counted how many were in the mob, forty-three. She was dead. The chances of winning were just too small to think otherwise, but to hell if she was going to go down easy. If they were going to keep her from her search she wasn't going to save them any pain from her Katana.
She briefly thought about taking out Lambent Shadow to turn things around but shelved it. She was trying to keep it a secret after all.
Without further thought she went after a player far enough from the others she could take down quickly, and easily dodged his clumsy attack before slicing into him without slowing down to bear down on the next opponent. She needed to get them before they could close ranks. Encircling her meant they were spaced enough for this hit-and-run style. At least for now.
The second opponent was just as quick, but the rest of the mob had already started closing in making it harder. She took down two more before one on one combat became impossible.
She charged the three that were closest, and at the last minute changed direction straight up taking them by surprise as they froze and prepared for the attack. It didn't give her a lot of room, but it was enough to start using her speed. Once again they spread to prevent her from escaping. Little did they know she had no intentions of running.
Deftly she performed a midair flip before flying straight down. None of them were ready for her to reverse course so quickly, and two of them paid for it with their lives. Six down, thirty-seven to go. She didn't think she had much time left on her wings, and if they had her on the ground her chances went from non-existent to zero.
She might have an escape possibility. As a Sylph very few would be able to find her using her stealth magic. She could continue downwards and make a sharp turn once out of sight. Once she did that there was any number of spells that would hide her from detection.
That wasn't really her style though. She became a Sylph because of their higher than average flight capabilities, not to hide. She'd used it in the past anyways when overwhelmed but she was just too annoyed to let that sway her.
She could, on the other hand, use it for a surprise attack. Guerrilla tactics were her best chance right now.
Continuing her descent she made the sharp turn perfectly, gliding just above the ground and chanting a misdirection spell that should move their attention away from her.
She had the impression they were a quickly formed group, so counted also on some confusion among the ranks at this maneuver. That thought was banished when she heard the voice of the one who had targetted her yell out "Spread out."
Once again the thought to run occurred, but instead she landed on a tree to let her wings rest before returning to the attack. Through the branches, she could make out a few of them fly down into the trees, undoubtedly to flush her out.
About five minutes later she faintly heard one of them approach. She might be able to take him out with surprise on her side, but not without him having a chance to scream, alerting the rest to her location. A few more seconds was all she needed though and her wings were fully reset. Now she had the advantage with their wings being unrested and inevitably needing to land.
Instead of fighting the one heading towards her, she launched herself upwards while she had the chance, once again engaging and defeating her first targets in quick succession before finally going against an opponent who was challenging enough to slow her down, if not defeat her.
By the time the exchange of blows ended with the Salamander's death she spotted four others too close to avoid combat. Using her aerial superiority she managed to maneuver all of them in front of her, at least giving her a slight chance. Backpedaling to keep her distance as much as possible.
She managed to defeat them, but she didn't go unscathed this time, one leg having been cut cleanly off above the knee, half her hit points gone, and another group was coming within range.
By her count she'd cut down about a third of the initial players. That was outstanding by any player's standing, but not enough to win.
Dropping to the tree line she once again tried to engage in hit and run attacks, but this time they didn't give her the chance, following her down and pinning her.
Damn it. She was out of tricks and there were no more options. Bracing herself, she prepared for the final round as they came in to finish her. She set her sight on the instigator of this attack, the Leprechaun who looked way to confident for her liking.
"No escape for you now Lillith," Grangar said with a smile.
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