A rock bullet hit Max on his head and he fell to the ground, the Marksman grinned and removed another rock bullet from the pouch on his waist.
"I'm out, give me your hand, and I'll help you out," the healer said as he succeeded in dragging himself out of Gabriel's mud trap.
The healer helped all the rest of them out of the mud one at a time, the marksman was the first to be dragged out and he held his slingshot waiting for the attackers, Max was still on the ground so they all thought he fainted from the first attack.
"Max...what are you doing on the ground" Gabriel shouted from behind the tree he was hiding, the players quickly turned towards Max who was on the ground.
"Ohh...why did you expose me, I wanted to surprise them," Max said as he stood up from the ground.
The marksman immediately aimed at Max at once, the rock bullet earlier didn't deal much damage so Max was fearless, he covered his face with one of his hands so the marksman wouldn't aim at his eyes but that wasn't the marksman's plan.
*Bam*
[-2HP]
Another rock bullet hit Max on his chest but it felt like he was tapped on his chest, the rock bullet couldn't deal any damage as Max was wearing an armor.
Max's special stat was defense meaning his body was tough and all the defensive equipment gives him double stats, Alex's leather armor gave him an increase in HP by 20, if Max wears the leather armor his HP would be increased by 40.
And Max was currently wearing a chain mail, he spent all the coins he had to buy the chain mail at the city and wore it when they entered the forest, he spent all his money hoping Alex would give him the silver sword.
Gabriel emerged from behind a tree with both of his hands up, two of the players immediately turn towards him and pointed their weapons, the archer pointed his bow towards Gabriel ready to fire, while the marksman and the healer faced Max.
"My hands are up so you don't have to attack, we can peacefully resolve this," Gabriel said.
"You bastards, you killed one of us and you are telling us to resolve this peacefully, that's bullshit" the marksman shouted.
"You guys are newbies and you are all level 4 players, if you are killed you would have to buy a new VR helmet, but your friend that was killed was already level 5 so you don't have to worry about him," Max said.
"Even though we are all level 4 players, you guys are just 2 levels above us, you can't do much if we run in different directions" the swordsman spoke.
"You are right, but you know we still have another member right, so we would kill three of you and one of you can escape, we'll let the healer go because he's going to die before he reaches the city," Gabriel said.
"What do you guys want, just because you guys are a few levels above us you think you can defeat all of us" the healer gritted his teeth.
"Just give us all your valuables then we'll be on our way, and I mean everything," Gabriel said in a hoarse voice.
"So you think we're going to hand you anything, come get it," the swordsman said and all of them readied themselves then Alex stepped out.
He purposely stepped on a branch to gain all their attention and all of them faced him immediately, he removed his hood but left his mask on.
The four players looked at Alex and all their hopes of escaping died, Alex was like the grim reaper that has come to take their souls, as soon as they noticed his they quickly looked at this level and all the bones in their bodies weakened.
Alex was a level 12 player so the four of them knew they stood no chance against him, they were newbies and had no powerful equipment that can take Alex down.
"Why are you still talking to them, if you kill them you are going to obtain half of their coins and also gain XP, kill them let's be on our way" Alex spoke without care, the group in his front was currently beyond weak so they had to do what needs to be done.
"I'll give you everything, please spare me" the healer pleaded immediately.
pαпdα`noνɐ1`сoМ "We don't need the money or items, we need the XP so I'm very sorry and we are currently heading somewhere," Alex said still holding both of his daggers in his hands.
"Wait... I'm a healer so I can join you guys, I would be very useful" the healer spoke again.
"Peter, what the hell is wrong with you, you are going to betray us" the marksman shouted angrily.
"At least I would survive, I can't buy another VR helmet, you know none of us can afford another one, where would we find the money" the healer shouted.
"So you are going to turn on us, maybe I should kill you first" the marksman turned sideways and aimed at the healer close to him.
"Stop it, you guys shouldn't fight amongst each other" the archer took his eyes off Gabriel and turned around to stop the fight.
[Mud trap]
Gabriel quickly placed his hands on the ground and the ground below the four players softened immediately and their legs began to sink downward, but they reacted immediately and attempted to escape the trap but Gabriel wasn't finished.
[Fireball]
Gabriel stretched his hands toward them and series of fireballs continuously shot from his hands towards the players, Max who was running towards them immediately stopped, he couldn't afford to get caught in Gabriel's spell.
The paladin class was extremely powerful in melee combat but they were also extremely weak against magic, Max knew this and kept his distance while Gabriel took care of the players.