"Where is she?!" "I can’t see her!" "Shit, She got Trev!"

Panicked shouts filled the forest, as a blur wreathed in crackling lightning moved between the trees like a phantom. Heads whipped around, desperately trying to track their predator, only for those heads to fall from their necks the next second.

The H3llRazers were mainly able to track their losses in all of the chaos because with each death, the demon whispered its toll of souls.

"Eight." Belladonna whispered, causing them to whip their heads towards her, as she smiled devilishly at them and sunk into the shadows just before half a dozen arrows thunked into the tree she had been standing in front of.

That made their panic increase tenfold, as they immediately started to whip around in all directions and quite literally jump at shadows. Any shadow that looked slightly too dark or moved in a way they weren’t expecting, got an arrow in it in an attempt to slay the demon hiding within them. Even their own shadows.

But they didn’t look hard enough.

As one player in light armour staggered back, his eyes wide with primal fear and beads of sweat trickling down his forehead, he bumped into a tree. He immediately let out a high pitched shriek, spun and swung his sword.

It slammed into the tree, barely cutting into it from his pathetic edge alignment. A twitchy, half embarrassed and half relieved smile spread across his lips as he laughed softly to himself, when his shadow stirred behind him.

Ten claws of pure darkness erupted from his stomach as he was promptly lifted off the ground, before the claws pulled apart. They sliced through his flesh before catching it, and tearing him in half like he was a slim jim.

Delicious crimson rained down onto Belladonna as she tossed the two halves of the body aside, then combed her blood slicked hair from her face. She had to resist the urge to lick her lips, but even without it her new appearance drove fear into the remaining players hearts like an ice cold dagger.

Although they had heard of her and recognised her as the Baroness of Blood, that was mostly because of the images and rumours spread about her. Not many people actually knew they origin of the name, nor the true terror behind that origin. Until now.

It was a realisation that they helped share with the world, as there was more than one scrying skull floating in the air recording everything. There was just something about delinquents that made them enjoy recording their crimes, even if it would later expose them.

They did so to remember the joy they felt terrorising these people and to share it with others, so they could laugh at the pathetic weaklings along with them. How ironic it was, that this habit would lead to their own exposure and humiliation as well as the rise in fame of another.

"Nine. Or... maybe that should count as Eight and a half." Belladonna muttered with a sadistic, evil chuckle.

Two arrows slammed into her chest, disturbing her fun. One of them shattered on impact with her blood stained armour, whilst the other slipped into a gap between the plates and found purchase in her supple flesh.

She winced as her body informed her of the invasion with a pulse of muted pain, before a shout confirmed how such a thing could be possible despite her magnetic shield being up.

"It’s metal! She deflects the metal! Switch to basic arrows and side arms!"

Belladonna whipped her head towards the source of the voice, and zeroed her piercing gaze on the man responsible. It was a skinny Hellion with deep blue skin and oversized, black horns sprouting from his forehead in a clear attempt to look scary or cool.

Belladonna kept eye contact with the Hellion as she ripped the arrow from her chest, letting the wound slowly close beneath her armour. It was little more than a sharpened stick with some rudimentary fletching. No iron tip or metal on it at all for her to deflect. How clever.

For him to still have this, when this was the most basic arrows that you got with a starter bow in the tutorial area, this man must have been some level of a hoarder. Then again... So were most gamers.

"You must be the leader... Don’t worry, I’ll get to you after these next two." She muttered, not caring if he could hear her or not, before she quickly dodged to the side to avoid the next few arrows that came flying her way.

Since her magnetic force field had been countered, Belladonna let it fade away for the moment. There was no point in wasting any more mana on it if it wasn’t going to be useful.

In fact, she decided that it was time for a change in tactics completely. They had felt the terror that could be bestowed by the Baroness of Blood, the vampire. But now it was time they were given an education on what a Glyphborne could do.

Plus, it was a wonderful opportunity for her to test out her new upgrades. After all, two hours of boredom in the cart had been more than enough time to add two new glyphs to her arsenal.

She burst forwards again, meeting the charge of one of the H3llRazers that was sprinting towards her with a wooden cudgel whilst a dozen more fully wooden starter arrows flew through the air. Some flying to where she had been, like fools, while others had actually aimed where she was going.

Neither mattered.

Belladonna raised her arm like she was holding a shield, as a Glyph carved on her arm glowed beneath her armour. The air shimmered as a rounded blue shield of pure light formed on her arm, deflecting the arrows harmlessly away.

Before she could meet the cudgel wielder, she leapt into the air. Flipping clear over his head, the man was forced to halt his charge and watch helplessly as she flew over him.

He was already mentally calculating her trajectory and landing spot, and prepared himself to swing for it while she was defenceless. But the poor sod never had a chance to begin with.

Belladonna had two runes carved into her feet. One in the centre of the sole of her foot, while the other was right beneath the toes. It was the second one that glowed, as the air beneath her foot solidified into a platform the size of a dinner plate.

Her foot planted against the disc, using it as a new leverage as she pushed off of it. Her trajectory completely changed course as she leapt straight towards the man she had just flipped over, without ever touching the ground.

At least he got a good death, as Belladonna wrapped her legs around his head, driving him to the ground before twisting her hips and snapping his neck.

"Ten. Ah, double digits should always be satisfying."