CHAPTER 10: REMATCH AT THE BURIAL GROUND
Once more, we arrived at the door to the tomb.
If we made a single misstep, we’d be done for. Prior to coming here, we had already met to discuss strategy for the basic flow of the battles to come. All that remained was to put it into practice.
In the first room, where we were massacred before, one Deadly General lay in wait as always. If anybody fell below 50% HP, the mummy army in the walls would awaken and kill us all. Thus, the clear condition for survival was to maintain a workable HP level.
“All right, Maeda. Are you ready?”
“Ready!”
Maeda and I unleashed our combined magic from the edge of the Deadly General’s aggro range. Naturally, it worked. 70% of his HP was shaved off at once. As a result, of course, he advanced toward us.
“I’ll be taking that aggro!” Before the general could reach us, Yano used Guilty Steal on Maeda.
Yano and I then had equal aggro. Yano had already put away her gun and readied her shield; she was in full guard mode.
The enemy’s first attack was aimed at her. His charging axe-swing was guarded perfectly by Yano. His guardbreak took effect, but only slightly, dealing only 1% of her health bar in damage. She was far from danger range.
“Whew! I thought I might mess up.”
After Yano guarded his attack, he switched targets to me. Because we split aggro, he was bouncing between us, just like when Maeda and I initially investigated.
If I were still using my Iron Staff from before, this would have been big trouble. Iron Staff had low poise, so even if I did try to guard with it, I would take a ton of damage. But with my new weapon, the Fanatic’s Staff—
I saw through the Deadly General’s horizontal slice and guarded against it.
Deadly General attacked.
But Ren guarded the attack!
Oho, zero damage! It was all thanks to my VIT specialization and this incredible new staff!
He followed up with a spinning axe-swing, another horizontal slice, and a full-body shove, but even while guarding, I took zero damage from any of it. Since I was on full-on defensive duty, somebody else would have to take on the damage role. But of course, that was all taken care of in our strategy meeting.
“Akira, it’s all you!”
“Got it!” Akira jammed Skyfall into the ground and began to dance around it.
As she spun along with the dance’s cute choreography, her ample chest bounced with her. That dance really gave her an air of tasteful seductiveness. But if that’s how the dance was performed, there was nothing she could do about it. Ooh, and there’s the big pose! So cute. And then—
“Ultimate ability! Saint’s Crescent!”
She removed Skyfall from the floor and slashed horizontally with a flash. The arc of her sword-slash manifested as a crescent, hitting the Deadly General. When it did, it unleashed its healing effect. Since the general was undead, he took damage instead.
Akira activated Saint’s Crescent.
539 damage dealt to Deadly General!
Saint’s Crescent is made by using a talent to chain sword dancer’s AoE heal, Healing Dance+, and the one-handed art, Crescent Slash. The result is an AoE heal. The heal from Healing Dance+ is further boosted by the damage of Crescent Slash, while most of the damage is magic as opposed to physical. As a result, it still hits high-level enemies with the same force as ever. Normal healing dances can only be activated for allies, but Saint’s Crescent can hit friend or foe alike. When it hits an undead foe, it becomes a source of damage.
“Aargh! It’s still got a sliver of health!”
Even after taking the full force of Akira’s ultimate, the Deadly General still stood. It just needed a little more damage! So close.
“Here comes another!” Saint’s Crescent costed 180 AP; Akira’s max was 450. We waited for her AP to fill to max before the battle, so she was more than ready to let two loose in a row.
“Wait! I’ll do it!” Mostly relegated to healing after the start of the battle, Maeda moved in to attack.
Kotomi cast Exheal.
246 damage dealt to Deadly General!
Finally, the Deadly General’s HP fell to zero. He let out a groan before dying and fading away.
“Woo! We’re really doing this!”
Reworking our tactics from the ground up had paid off. The rewards from the competitive quest were coming in handy too. You gotta make full use of everything at your disposal!
“Yaaaay!”
“It all went according to your calculations, Takashiro.”
“Aww yeah! New guild, here we come! I can’t wait to have my own room!”
“Go underdogs!”
“My own pet dragon! I can’t wait!”
“Our own floating island! Beautiful views for days!”
These were the raw, unfiltered voices of our hearts, revealing our deepest desires.
“Now, onward!”
We topped off our HP and MP before resuming deeper into the tomb.
“But y’know, it’s kinda funny watchin’ one guy guarding desperately for his life while the girl behind him dances her butt off like she just doesn’t care. Know what I mean, Kotomi?”
“Oh? I-I suppose?”
“Gaaaah! I-I can’t help it! It’s not like it’s not embarrassing for me...”
“C’mon now, girls. The dance is almost too tempting for me too, but since it’s so cute, I definitely can’t say I mind.”
“...Yes, Yuuna, it is rather amusing.”
“Not you too, Maeda! I can’t do anything about the animation they made...”
“We know it’s not your fault, Akki. Whoever designed the sword dancer’s gear and animations is the real creep.”
“I know, right?! Every little movement and every microscopic outfit just makes it worse!”
“Doesn’t it kinda feel like you’re being forced to do things that men would want to see you do?”
“This is sounding more and more shady by the minute...”
There’s a reason that sword dancer is the #1 class girls don’t want to play. It’s pretty unfair.
“Look, the class is critical to my strategy. Besides, guys can play it too!”
At length, we discovered another room. It looked like this path was made purely to connect small rooms to other small rooms. This time, there were two Deadly Generals—
“Let’s take them on using the same strat.”
Our combined magic and Akira’s ultimate were both AoE. If we could hit both generals, it would work out just fine.
And I was right. We cleared the second small room without having to worry about the mummy army.
We cleared room after room, each of them housing only one or two enemies. Once we got used to the strategy, we were progressing quickly. Thanks to the level difference between our party and the enemies, we were getting tons of EXP.
Our levels had risen to: Me 28, Akira 28, Maeda 29, Yano 31. Good stuff, good stuff. At this rate, we really were going to make it!
“Huh? There’s a staircase.”
When you proceed to the next floor of a dungeon, enemies get stronger. We’d best be on our guard, then.
We descended down to the next floor, immediately finding ourselves faced with another small room with enemies.
Deadly General x3: Level 81
Ancient Doll x2: Level 82
Whoa, there’s five of them. And Ancient Dolls aren’t undead; they’re magic doll types. This would be a challenge; that was the difficulty curve at work.
“Mm... This would be easier if they were all undead.”
“What should we do, Ren? This doesn’t look good.”
“We’ll open up with the usual Joint Magic. And then from there—” I began an impromptu strategy meeting.
“You sure this’ll work? I’m not too confident about fighting five dudes.”
“This does seem rather dangerous.”
“Let’s give it a shot! I’m sure it’ll work out!” Yano and Maeda were uneasy, but Akira was 100% on board.
“There’s nothing to worry about! Let’s go!”
“If you say so, Akki.”
“Let’s give it a try.”
With Akira’s inspiration, we completed our battle plan. First, of course, we hit all five enemies with our Joint Magic. When that worked out, all of them moved to attack us.
“I gotcha, Kotomi!” Yano used her Guilty Steal, leaving her and me with equal aggro. The same strat as usual.
Normally, this is where Akira would use her ultimate, heal-damaging the undead. Unfortunately, this would have the side-effect of healing the Ancient Dolls, so we decided to go with a different strategy this time.
I readied my staff, and Yano her shield, to withstand the enemy assault.
Maeda cast a spell from the back line: “Vengeful Blast!”
This spell creates a wall that deals fixed counterattack damage in response to all enemy attacks. It targets one ally, so she cast it on me.
Deadly General attacked.
Ren guarded the attack!
10 counterattack damage dealt to Deadly General!
With each guard, I chipped away at the enemy’s health. There were two Deadly Generals and an Ancient Doll on me, making it three versus one. Meanwhile, Yano was guarding against the remaining two.
Ancient Doll attacked.
Yuuna guarded the attack, taking 32 damage.
Yano was taking a bit of guardbreak damage. This reduced her aggro level, making me the next in line for their attacks. All five enemies then stood before me. Far from losing aggro, I was actually generating more thanks to my counterattack damage. With every guard, I was gaining more and more. That’s precisely what I had planned.
I continued to guard against attack after attack after attack, against the generals’ axe swings and shoves; against the dolls’ erratic barbed flail assaults. I could already block the generals’ slow attacks with my eyes closed, and the dolls’ attack animations were the same as lower level dolls. As long as there was no danger of guardbreak, it didn’t matter how low my AGI or how sluggish my movement; I could guard against anything without breaking a sweat.
Every attack animation comes with a telegraph at the start, so they’re easy to predict. I moved away based on the range of each one. The only attacks I had to guard were the ones that would have definitely hit me.
The Deadly General’s shove knocked targets back even if they guarded, so that was something I had to be wary of. When possible, I took advantage of it to help dodge the other enemies’ attacks.
The optimal tactic changed with each passing moment, but... logically, all I had to do was maintain this pattern. The only problems were the accuracy of my predictions and the speed of my reactions to match them.
Before the battle, I claimed that I could handle five of them at once, so I’d take on the tank role. Maeda and Yano didn’t seem to believe me, but it looked like I’d really be able to keep this up.
“That’s amazing, Takashiro! You’re seriously avoiding every hit!”
“The heck?! Symbologists are supposed to have crappy AGI! How are you not taking any damage from all those enemies?! Are you cheating?”
“This is Ren we’re talking about. He’s really good at figuring out enemy movements quickly and accurately. It’s not about stats; it’s pure skill. AGI has nothing to do with it.” Akira seemed proud, for some reason.
“So uh, are you all just gonna stand there, or are you gonna attack?!” That was supposed to be the plan! While I was acting as a decoy, they were supposed to focus down the Ancient Dolls.
“Whoops! Totally slipped my mind!”
“Okay! Let’s do it!”
Yano unequipped her shield and grabbed her gun, and Akira began slashing away at the dolls with Skyfall. With the vast level difference, their attacks were mostly evaded, but our strategy was essentially “throw enough dirt and some will stick,” using brute force to chip away at them.
Yano readied her gun and made use of the AP she collected through guarding. “Ultimate ability! Shadow Blaster!”
This ultimate was chained from sky pirate and hunter’s Stealth Shot, along with the gun art, Double Blast. Stealth Shot makes the user transparent, so the shooter doesn’t gain aggro. When matched with a double-hit art, it becomes a powerful attack that doesn’t put the user in danger. It’s very safe damage.
Yano still had a considerable amount of aggro from the Joint Magic earlier, so if she wasn’t careful, she might’ve ended up surpassing my aggro and getting attacked. With her shield still unequipped, she would get wrecked immediately, attracting the mummies as she died. But with her no-aggro attack, she was safe as long as I didn’t mess up.
Yano’s ultimate was a direct hit, and Akira’s chip damage and the continued effect of Stealth Shot helped them clean up the remainder of the dolls’ health. Gunshots were unavoidable by nature; they were the most accurate means of attack.
The first Ancient Doll went down, followed by the second. I was still rocking a full HP bar, and the cycle only got easier and easier as enemies fell. Three Deadly Generals remained. The rest would be easy.
“All right, I’m ready! Ultimate ability! Saint’s Crescent!”
The three generals fell to the red zone all at once, and Maeda finished them off one at a time with Exheal.
“Woohoooo! We’re getting there! We’re really doing this!”
“Heck yeah! We won!”
“I thought this would be much harder...”
“Your perfect guards saved the day, Takashiro!”
“Good job, Ren. Those were some god-tier reflexes!”
“Heheh... Aww, it was nothing.” I couldn’t help but bask in the praise of all these cuties!
“But hey, if you’re that agile with symbologist, imagine how much your skill could shine with a high-AGI frontline class like magic knight or martial artist!”
“Dead End does deal formidable damage, but symbologist just can’t stand up to enemy fire afterward.”
“Maybe so, but I’m just not interested in the strong classes.”
My style was basically to stand in the back and then one-shot kill the enemy when my time came. Front-line fighters and tanks needed to have ways to manage aggro, but I was the opposite. Without a taunt skill of my own to take aggro, my only aggro gain was through my ultimate. My burst damage was all I had. No matter what I did or where I went, I was a drama cannon through and through. This fight was an exception—a plan B.
“Haha... I guess you are the Emperor of Underpowered.”
“It feels like such a waste of skill...”
“No matter what anyone says, Ren never lets go of his obsession.”
“Akira, you always get me.”
“I don’t ‘get’ you. I just give up on persuading you because you’re so dumb.”
“What?! That’s news to me!”
“Heehee, you two are such good friends.”
“What Kotomi means to say is, ‘Takashiro, flirt with me, instead! Pretty please?!’“
“I most certainly did not! That didn’t even sound like me, Yuuna, you dummy!”
“Oww! You didn’t have to hit me, Kotomi. I thought I was doing you all a favor by providing a rough translation.”
“I don’t want your favors! Come on, let’s go!” Maeda moved to the vanguard of the party and continued onward.
We were able to match our previous successes in battle, but the road ahead was becoming very labyrinthine. Despite our confusion, we had no trouble mowing down foe after foe.
As we continued searching, Maeda entertained herself by feeding Draco, until—
“Chirp chirp! Chirp chirp!” He let out a few excited cries, and suddenly his body started glowing!
“Huh?!”
“Ooh! He’s all glowy!”
“Draco, what’s wrong?!”
“D-Did his stomach explode?!”
I checked my Log window.
Draco’s growth level increased!
Please choose a skill for it to learn:
Well, hello there! “Oh, sweet! It says he’s grown enough to learn a skill.”
Nice, nice, nice! This was the best part of pet-raising mechanics! So what could he learn, then? The list was as follows:
Regenerator (Passive)
Effect: Pet dragon will heal nearby players’ HP at regular intervals.
Can be used on all members of master’s party.
Heal rate: 5 HP per second.
Pickup (Passive)
Effect: Occasionally gathers materials when a material-gathering point is nearby. (Tools not necessary)
Functions even when master is logged out.
Target Marker (Passive)
Effect: Functions as a marker for area-of-effect magic and skills. Only works on master’s magic and skills.
When pet dragon is targeted by magic/skills that can be freely placed, the area-of-effect will move along with the pet dragon.
Looked like all of them were passive support skills. Interesting, interesting. Two of the three looked especially useful to me, but after considering how desirable each of them would be, I arrived at one conclusion. Yup, it could only be that one!
“What can he learn?”
“Look at this message. Regenerator, Pickup, and Target Marker.” I enlarged my Log window to show the rest of the party.
“Which one would you all choose?”
“Regenerator is the best one, yeah? It works on the whole party, and you can never have too many heals.”
“Safety first.” Maeda nodded in agreement to Yano’s choice.
“But I wouldn’t ignore Pickup. With the forced logout window, this lets you get ahead even in the dead hours.” Akira’s choice was understandable, and I could see Pickup’s charm.
“Cool, cool. I’ll choose Target Marker, then.” I tapped Target Marker and confirmed my choice.
“Greeeeat, thanks for asking our opinions!”
“What was the point of asking?”
“Ren, why’d you choose that one?”
“Regenerator has a chance of messing up my 1 HP Dead Ends, so it’d be more of a burden than anything. Pickup is a good choice, but Target Marker is perfect for symbologists. It’s the only answer.”
I had to try it out right then and there. I began casting Devitalizing Circle.
Ooh! With Target Marker equipped, I can even target Draco. I cast the spell, and a circle of light appeared around him.
“Draco, fly around in circles!”
“Chirp!” Draco posed as if bowing in assent before flying around our party. As he moved, my magic circle followed him.
It worked! Now I could move my circles around.
“Symbologists normally can’t move their circles after placing them. This is a major development! Good job, Draco! Good boy!”
“Chirp chirp chirp!” Draco seemed very proud as I praised him. What a cute little guy.
“Huh. So you can move your circles. But what’s so good about that?”
“If we can manage aggro properly, then the enemies aren’t moving, anyway. Why do you need to move the circles?” Yano and Maeda didn’t quite seem to get it just yet.
“It must be for PvP, right? If Draco chases your enemy, you can then use your circles more effectively.”
Aggro doesn’t matter in player vs player battles; all someone has to do is look at where the circle is and move away from it. With Draco’s ability to move them, my circles would indeed be better in PvP.
“True, but I think it’s a good general boost for symbologist. I’ll get back to you ladies once I do some testing. For now, let’s keep going.”
We were in the middle of a “one wrong step and you’re done for“ expedition. We had to focus on the task at hand.
After a while, we found an incredibly ornate door that shone gold.
“Whoa! This door definitely smells like treasure!”
“It does. But...”
“It almost seems too conspicuous...”
“What do we do now...?”
Gatekeepers lay in wait before the door.
Deadly King: Level 99
Crown Icon (rare monster)
This guy looked crazy strong. He was the next level up from the Deadly Generals we fought before. His muscular body, far larger than the generals, was covered with golden armor, adorned with jewels that revealed his high status. Blood-red light emanated from the depths of his eyes, matching the ominous aura exuded by his obsidian two-handed sword. For a skeleton, he had immense presence. Overall, this boss was awe-inspiring.
Two Deadly Generals stood at his side as well. There looked to be seven gatekeepers in total guarding the treasure vault.
“Whoooa. So uh, Takashiro, how’re we gonna deal with this?”
“Don’t ask me... These guys look way too strong.”
“Aren’t you here to make up a crazy plan to get us out of this? C’mon, hop to it!” She must have thought I was some sort of miracle worker.
“Why does it have to be me?”
“That’s just how much we believe in you, Takashiro. Can’t you think of anything?”
“You’re the strategist, Ren. Be the best Zhuge Liang you can be!”
“I think I’d rather be Liu Bei here. If I left things to my cohorts, I’d be far more likely to live through this.” I tried to jest, but my mind was running a mile a minute.
Well, I couldn’t use Dead End here. We’d come this far into the dungeon, so I didn’t want to risk messing it up and doing it all over again.
Hmm... Or maybe... we didn’t have to defeat them at all. If we could just get inside the treasure room...
I wanted to test something before I showed it off, but maybe this was the time to use it. It may or may not work... but it was all I had!
Okay, let’s do it!
“All right, then. How about we give up on victory?” I presented the idea with a smile.
“Whaaaa?! I don’t wanna go home empty-handed after all this junk!” Yano was obviously disappointed with my idea.
“Oh, no no. We’re not giving up on the treasure.”
“Then what’s the plan, Takashiro?”
“We forget about beating these guys. Someone acts as a decoy for the enemies while everyone else rushes for the treasure. We all know that door just reeks of treasure, right? I can be the decoy.”
“Just you? How are you gonna do it? Is this gonna be some guard chip damage thing again?”
“Nope. I doubt I can guard the king’s attacks without taking damage, so it’s up to Draco. This is that new thing I was talking about before; I’m gonna take it for a test drive here.” I handed the Ancient Imperial Key to Akira.
“I’ll draw them away. Everyone else, you go in and grab the treasure.”
“Are you sure about this? Draco’s just gonna move your circles, right?”
“I’m positive! Even if I screw this up, that’s important data for my testing. No matter how it goes, I win!”
“That doesn’t sound very sure!”
“Heehee. Takashiro always looks so enthusiastic at times like this.”
“He’s a testing fetishist or something. Okay, Ren. Go for it. I’m excited to see what happens.” Yano was being her usual self, but Akira and Maeda were much more receptive.
“Okay... Here goes. When they move away from the door, get in there ASAP.”
Leaving them with those words, I began casting a spell.
“Enervating Circle!”
In case you’ve forgotten, it lowers AGI. I made the circle just large enough to contain every enemy in the army guarding the door.
Casting complete. A circle of light appeared, with Draco at its center.
Akira clapped her hands together when she realized what I wanted. “Oh! Ren, does Enervating Circle make enemies run slower?”
“Bingo!”
“Oh, wow! We’re about to witness another Ren miracle!”
I then called out to my pet. “To me, Draco!”
I cradled him in my arms, and—it was go time! First, I dashed toward the door to the treasure vault. When I came close enough, I entered enemy aggro range. With the Deadly King at the forefront, all seven enemies moved at once.
All right, then. Time to book it! I screeched to a halt, then turned 180 degrees and ran away. The game of tag began. Running past the rest of my party, I began going back the way we came from. Since I had aggro, the boss group ignored my party and continued chasing me.
Afterward, Akira and co. moved for the treasure vault. Good, good. But now that they had chased me so far, the enemies leashed, turning back to return to their resting place. I’d have to run as fast as I could if I didn’t want to let them die before they got the treasure!
With the insane level difference, my foes also moved much faster than normal. But even with one or two hundred more AGI than me, it didn’t mean they were twice as fast. Everyone has a base movement speed which steadily increases with the unit’s status bonuses. The difference between classes is a major factor too; for example, four-legged beastman types are the fastest. Skeletons, meanwhile, are slow. At lower levels, they can hardly even stand. But despite all that, this boss group was surprisingly fast, as I’ve already noted.
At the entrance to the huge room that housed the door to the treasure vault, they had already gotten too close to me for comfort.
“Chirp! Chirp chirp!”
“Don’t worry! They won’t get me that easily!”
The Deadly King stepped into the Enervating Circle centered on Draco, slowing him down immensely.
Still running, I was able to make some more distance between us. As the circle moved away from him, the king gained speed again. When he got closer to me, he stepped into the circle and slowed down again.
We repeated this process over and over.
“Chichirp?”
“Outside the circle, they’re faster than me. But inside, I reign supreme as the king of speed!”
As a result of the circle’s debuff, they were slowed down. That’s the endgame of the inner-circle reversal you see here. So as long as I kept hold of Draco and kept my circle going, they couldn’t catch up with me.
Enervating Circle cuts enemy AGI by 25%, and as Akira said, it decreases their movement speed by 25% as a side effect. If the king was still faster than me inside the circle, I’d strike out. This strategy was an unrehearsed gamble, so I’m glad it ended up working out this well.
“It worked! I can outrun them forever at this rate!” Pulling enemies and outrunning them like this has various names in games; “kiting“ and “training“ come to mind.
I picked Target Marker for exactly this sort of battle plan. I’ve found a new possible role for symbologist: marathon runner!
The fact that circles can’t be resisted was a major selling point. As long as you can keep the circle moving, nobody can match your marathoning potential. If there were a way to combine sleep attacks with this strategy, a player could outright bore his enemies to death. This could be a dangerous power, if only I had the means to wield it.
So, my one-minute circle was going to expire soon. I’d best recast it immediately. I stopped moving and rushed to cast a new one, while the boss group slowly approached me inside my current circle.
The casting completed, overwriting the old circle and allowing me to make distance between us again. All right! I even had time to recast! Heheheh, there was no way to stop me from kiting them now! Maybe I could even drag them outside the tomb!
I continued on the path we entered from, recasting as necessary. My MP was getting dangerously low, but I was far from out yet!
“Turnover!”
My HP fell to one digit, filling my MP to max. When I did this, of course—
Groooooooooan...
Crimson Mummy army: level 78
There it is! Our handshake party begins anew!
But I remained within the center of my Enervating Circle, allowing me to escape long before the mummies could reach me. I ran, ran, and ran some more—
There was still a long time before I’d reach the outside. Would I make it?! On a whim, I looked behind me again, and realized that a horrifying scene had developed.
Crimson Mummies are embedded in the walls all throughout the dungeon. As a result of my low-HP mad dash, hundreds of blood-red mummies had gathered! What an insane train of monsters! I’d never even seen a mob like this before!
The Deadly King was so buried by the red mass that I couldn’t even see him! A normal online game would get bogged down immensely with all of these monsters onscreen, but the good ol’ VRMMO didn’t even miss a beat.
I couldn’t help but laugh all the while! “Bahahahaha! What the heck, dude?! This is hilarious!”
I approached the exit, still cackling uncontrollably.
Take a right there, then two more lefts! I can do it, I can do it, I can do it! I can really do this! This is my victory lap!
Before long, I leapt from the entrance of the dungeon. Wow! The blue sky was a sight for sore eyes!
“Woohooooo! Goooooal! Haaahahah! I win, I win!”
Apparently the undead army couldn’t chase me out any further. They just stopped and stood there, as if there was an invisible wall at the exit. It’s just not their habitat, I guess. In most MMOs, enemies have set habitats that they reside in, and they can’t leave that area. After a while, they’d just go back to where they belonged. That rule seems to apply to UW, as well.
“Great job, Draco! You’re my savior, little buddy!”
“Chirp chirp! Chichichiiirp!”
In my excitement, I pet Draco like he’d never been pet before. He seemed to love it.
From the writhing mass of undead emerged one solitary figure from the cave. It was an awe-inspiring skeleton with a body clad in shining armor.
“So the Deadly King is the only one who can leave, huh? That’s a king for you.”
What would I do now? The gang should have had over ten minutes to get the treasure by now.
Then... how about I try for a bonus challenge?
I’d like to see how far my one-shot wonder can take me, for future reference.
“Let’s do this, Draco!”
“Chirp!”
I cast Enfeebling Circle at its maximum radius, reducing my remaining MP to 0. With the head of my Canesword unscrewed, I was ready to unleash my ultimate.
When the Deadly King approached, his eyes glowed even redder than before. He roared and swung his obsidian broadsword—
A vertical slash? If so, I should be able to evade it and slide for home base!
Symbologist may have low AGI, but if I could just time this well enough...!
Crash!
That was the sound of his obsidian broadsword piercing the earth. He missed me!
“Here goes! Ultimate ability! Dead End!” As I slid in front of him, I unleashed my ultimate.
Ren activated Dead End.
2,561 damage dealt to Deadly King!
It worked! But... his HP bar hardly budged. I guess it wasn’t surprising for a level 99 monster to have astronomical health.
Not letting my awe get the better of me, I instantly changed weapons to my Fanatic’s Staff. The king was knocked back for a moment by my damage, leaving me just enough time to act.
Deadly King then kicked at me as I still stood before him. I couldn’t dodge that in time. I’d have to guard! And if he broke my guard, I’d die instantly. Talk about a sudden death situation.
Deadly King attacked.
But Ren guarded the attack!
Putting aside the fact that it was just a plain old kick, similar to what his weak attack would be in a fighting game, I really could guard it! But if I can guard that—
What if I could stay in a position that forced him to use his weak attack over and over? To provoke him to use his weak attack, I’d to stick to him like glue. That meant directly in front of him is the safest place!
...And so I stuck to him like glue, guarding against each kick as it came. He would sometimes use a spinning sword slash, but it was rare and had a long wind-up, so I had little trouble avoiding it. But since I would have to jump out of the way each time, that would make me vulnerable. In those cases, I would dodge his sword again and jump back in front of him. The only possible way to do that was to watch out for another vertical slash. Whenever he showed signs of preparing for any other attack, I’d just keep my distance.
Jump in, approach, guard, and dodge. I had found a good routine. At the very least, this would let me bide my time.
Five minutes passed, bringing Final Strike and Turnover off cooldown. Now I could use Dead End again!
I was just in the middle of approaching him and dodging another kick. After that, the king telegraphed his spin slash by turning his body. Now was my chance! I took that opportunity to leap and dash away, making greater distance between us. There, I opened my item box and forged a Canesword as quickly as the game would allow. My new weapon was equipped and ready to go.
The king approached and telegraphed another vertical slash. I couldn’t miss this opportunity! Time for my second shot!
Ren activated Dead End.
2,561 damage dealt to Deadly King!
Let’s see how far I can take this loop!
Relying on the routine I had formulated on the fly, I repeated my actions over and over and over...
Until—how many times had I even done this?
At this point, Deadly King’s HP was down to about half. But I wasn’t done yet! I was intent on staying on this train until its last stop!
Or, as it turned out, until its emergency detour.
“Are you okay?!”
Oh, it was one of those second-year upperclassmen.
Shinsuke Miura (2-B)
Level 68 Paladin, party leader
Huh, my HP was back to full. He must have healed me.
“Takashiro! We’d like to help you take him down. May we lend a hand?”
A quick glance to the side revealed that all ten of the upperclassmen from before, all in the level 60 range, were present. If I had this many people ready to help me, maybe I really could do it...
I tossed my stubborn pride aside; at this point, I’d gladly accept any help I could get.
“Yes, please!”
“All right, then! Guardian Force!” Miura activated the skill immediately, standing in front of me protectively. He spoke to me as he took the Deadly King’s assault. “Did you drag him out here and deal this much damage all by yourself?!”
“Yes, sir! But I did get some help from this little guy.” I looked over at Draco.
“That’s amazing, especially for your level! You’re a machine! I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen it myself!”
The other upperclassmen stood in their respective battle positions and joined the fight.
Now, what should I do in the midst of all this? I’m probably far, far ahead in aggro, so holding back and focusing on dodging attacks was probably my best bet.
But while I considered my next actions—
“HEH HEH HEH... YOU ARE FORMIDABLE, INDEED.” The Deadly King spoke! Were all high-level enemies like this?! He was just a pile of bones when all was said and done, but he almost looked like he was grinning. “I MUST COMMEND YOUR CONSIDERABLE STRENGTH—WITH MY ULTIMATE ATTACK!”
The Deadly King raised his broadsword in the air before plunging it down into the earth. “GAZE UPON ME AND DESPAIR! CRIMSON CALAMITY!”
Holy crap!
As he activated his ultimate, flames erupted from the earth where his broadsword stood. The fire shot out in random directions, engulfing us all. Before I realized it, my vision was filled with nothing but red flames. Against such a long-range, high-speed instakill, the upperclassmen and I had no counter.
A cacophony of screams swelled around me.
And then—only the Deadly King remained standing.
Wow, we all died at once...
Did he go into an enrage mode when he lost a certain amount of HP? I’d have to think of a way to deal with that if I ever wanted to beat him.
The Deadly King is one heck of an adversary! Level 99 rare monsters were no joke, it turned out..
“HEH HEH HEH... COME FACE ME AGAIN, BRAVE WARRIORS.” With a smug look, he left those parting words and majestically returned to the tomb. He was way too cool for a skeleton...
Sucks for you, though! My girls just ransacked your treasure vault, buddy! I wish I could see the shock on your boney face when you get home!
But that king did seem like kind of a battle junkie. Maybe he was just using the treasure as bait because he wanted to keep fighting people? Either way, that was fun!
I’m gonna take you down someday, Deadly King!
“Hahaha... It’s a bit embarrassing for all ten of us to die right after we came to help you.” Miura spoke apologetically, despite his avatar being stuck inspecting the ground like mine.
“Oh, no, thank you for coming. Sorry to get you killed too.”
“No need to apologize. Killing the Deadly King was our goal, so seeing him outside the dungeon was an amazing opportunity.”
“Huh. Does he drop good loot?”
“Yeah, his weapon and armor are decent. But you saw his ultimate, didn’t you? He drops the Crimson Calamity book when he dies. It’s really strong, and the cool part is that any weapon can use it.”
“Whoa! That’s really cool!” I hoped I could take him down one day, just for that!
“All right, let’s go back. We should do this again, if we happen to meet up.”
“Sounds good. Right, it’s time to go—” I’d have to respawn. I could only wonder if the girls got that Guild Establishment Permit.
Only one way to find out. Back to the home point!
If we made a single misstep, we’d be done for. Prior to coming here, we had already met to discuss strategy for the basic flow of the battles to come. All that remained was to put it into practice.
In the first room, where we were massacred before, one Deadly General lay in wait as always. If anybody fell below 50% HP, the mummy army in the walls would awaken and kill us all. Thus, the clear condition for survival was to maintain a workable HP level.
“All right, Maeda. Are you ready?”
“Ready!”
Maeda and I unleashed our combined magic from the edge of the Deadly General’s aggro range. Naturally, it worked. 70% of his HP was shaved off at once. As a result, of course, he advanced toward us.
“I’ll be taking that aggro!” Before the general could reach us, Yano used Guilty Steal on Maeda.
Yano and I then had equal aggro. Yano had already put away her gun and readied her shield; she was in full guard mode.
The enemy’s first attack was aimed at her. His charging axe-swing was guarded perfectly by Yano. His guardbreak took effect, but only slightly, dealing only 1% of her health bar in damage. She was far from danger range.
“Whew! I thought I might mess up.”
After Yano guarded his attack, he switched targets to me. Because we split aggro, he was bouncing between us, just like when Maeda and I initially investigated.
If I were still using my Iron Staff from before, this would have been big trouble. Iron Staff had low poise, so even if I did try to guard with it, I would take a ton of damage. But with my new weapon, the Fanatic’s Staff—
I saw through the Deadly General’s horizontal slice and guarded against it.
Deadly General attacked.
But Ren guarded the attack!
Oho, zero damage! It was all thanks to my VIT specialization and this incredible new staff!
He followed up with a spinning axe-swing, another horizontal slice, and a full-body shove, but even while guarding, I took zero damage from any of it. Since I was on full-on defensive duty, somebody else would have to take on the damage role. But of course, that was all taken care of in our strategy meeting.
“Akira, it’s all you!”
“Got it!” Akira jammed Skyfall into the ground and began to dance around it.
As she spun along with the dance’s cute choreography, her ample chest bounced with her. That dance really gave her an air of tasteful seductiveness. But if that’s how the dance was performed, there was nothing she could do about it. Ooh, and there’s the big pose! So cute. And then—
“Ultimate ability! Saint’s Crescent!”
She removed Skyfall from the floor and slashed horizontally with a flash. The arc of her sword-slash manifested as a crescent, hitting the Deadly General. When it did, it unleashed its healing effect. Since the general was undead, he took damage instead.
Akira activated Saint’s Crescent.
539 damage dealt to Deadly General!
Saint’s Crescent is made by using a talent to chain sword dancer’s AoE heal, Healing Dance+, and the one-handed art, Crescent Slash. The result is an AoE heal. The heal from Healing Dance+ is further boosted by the damage of Crescent Slash, while most of the damage is magic as opposed to physical. As a result, it still hits high-level enemies with the same force as ever. Normal healing dances can only be activated for allies, but Saint’s Crescent can hit friend or foe alike. When it hits an undead foe, it becomes a source of damage.
“Aargh! It’s still got a sliver of health!”
Even after taking the full force of Akira’s ultimate, the Deadly General still stood. It just needed a little more damage! So close.
“Here comes another!” Saint’s Crescent costed 180 AP; Akira’s max was 450. We waited for her AP to fill to max before the battle, so she was more than ready to let two loose in a row.
“Wait! I’ll do it!” Mostly relegated to healing after the start of the battle, Maeda moved in to attack.
Kotomi cast Exheal.
246 damage dealt to Deadly General!
Finally, the Deadly General’s HP fell to zero. He let out a groan before dying and fading away.
“Woo! We’re really doing this!”
Reworking our tactics from the ground up had paid off. The rewards from the competitive quest were coming in handy too. You gotta make full use of everything at your disposal!
“Yaaaay!”
“It all went according to your calculations, Takashiro.”
“Aww yeah! New guild, here we come! I can’t wait to have my own room!”
“Go underdogs!”
“My own pet dragon! I can’t wait!”
“Our own floating island! Beautiful views for days!”
These were the raw, unfiltered voices of our hearts, revealing our deepest desires.
“Now, onward!”
We topped off our HP and MP before resuming deeper into the tomb.
“But y’know, it’s kinda funny watchin’ one guy guarding desperately for his life while the girl behind him dances her butt off like she just doesn’t care. Know what I mean, Kotomi?”
“Oh? I-I suppose?”
“Gaaaah! I-I can’t help it! It’s not like it’s not embarrassing for me...”
“C’mon now, girls. The dance is almost too tempting for me too, but since it’s so cute, I definitely can’t say I mind.”
“...Yes, Yuuna, it is rather amusing.”
“Not you too, Maeda! I can’t do anything about the animation they made...”
“We know it’s not your fault, Akki. Whoever designed the sword dancer’s gear and animations is the real creep.”
“I know, right?! Every little movement and every microscopic outfit just makes it worse!”
“Doesn’t it kinda feel like you’re being forced to do things that men would want to see you do?”
“This is sounding more and more shady by the minute...”
There’s a reason that sword dancer is the #1 class girls don’t want to play. It’s pretty unfair.
“Look, the class is critical to my strategy. Besides, guys can play it too!”
At length, we discovered another room. It looked like this path was made purely to connect small rooms to other small rooms. This time, there were two Deadly Generals—
“Let’s take them on using the same strat.”
Our combined magic and Akira’s ultimate were both AoE. If we could hit both generals, it would work out just fine.
And I was right. We cleared the second small room without having to worry about the mummy army.
We cleared room after room, each of them housing only one or two enemies. Once we got used to the strategy, we were progressing quickly. Thanks to the level difference between our party and the enemies, we were getting tons of EXP.
Our levels had risen to: Me 28, Akira 28, Maeda 29, Yano 31. Good stuff, good stuff. At this rate, we really were going to make it!
“Huh? There’s a staircase.”
When you proceed to the next floor of a dungeon, enemies get stronger. We’d best be on our guard, then.
We descended down to the next floor, immediately finding ourselves faced with another small room with enemies.
Deadly General x3: Level 81
Ancient Doll x2: Level 82
Whoa, there’s five of them. And Ancient Dolls aren’t undead; they’re magic doll types. This would be a challenge; that was the difficulty curve at work.
“Mm... This would be easier if they were all undead.”
“What should we do, Ren? This doesn’t look good.”
“We’ll open up with the usual Joint Magic. And then from there—” I began an impromptu strategy meeting.
“You sure this’ll work? I’m not too confident about fighting five dudes.”
“This does seem rather dangerous.”
“Let’s give it a shot! I’m sure it’ll work out!” Yano and Maeda were uneasy, but Akira was 100% on board.
“There’s nothing to worry about! Let’s go!”
“If you say so, Akki.”
“Let’s give it a try.”
With Akira’s inspiration, we completed our battle plan. First, of course, we hit all five enemies with our Joint Magic. When that worked out, all of them moved to attack us.
“I gotcha, Kotomi!” Yano used her Guilty Steal, leaving her and me with equal aggro. The same strat as usual.
Normally, this is where Akira would use her ultimate, heal-damaging the undead. Unfortunately, this would have the side-effect of healing the Ancient Dolls, so we decided to go with a different strategy this time.
I readied my staff, and Yano her shield, to withstand the enemy assault.
Maeda cast a spell from the back line: “Vengeful Blast!”
This spell creates a wall that deals fixed counterattack damage in response to all enemy attacks. It targets one ally, so she cast it on me.
Deadly General attacked.
Ren guarded the attack!
10 counterattack damage dealt to Deadly General!
With each guard, I chipped away at the enemy’s health. There were two Deadly Generals and an Ancient Doll on me, making it three versus one. Meanwhile, Yano was guarding against the remaining two.
Ancient Doll attacked.
Yuuna guarded the attack, taking 32 damage.
Yano was taking a bit of guardbreak damage. This reduced her aggro level, making me the next in line for their attacks. All five enemies then stood before me. Far from losing aggro, I was actually generating more thanks to my counterattack damage. With every guard, I was gaining more and more. That’s precisely what I had planned.
I continued to guard against attack after attack after attack, against the generals’ axe swings and shoves; against the dolls’ erratic barbed flail assaults. I could already block the generals’ slow attacks with my eyes closed, and the dolls’ attack animations were the same as lower level dolls. As long as there was no danger of guardbreak, it didn’t matter how low my AGI or how sluggish my movement; I could guard against anything without breaking a sweat.
Every attack animation comes with a telegraph at the start, so they’re easy to predict. I moved away based on the range of each one. The only attacks I had to guard were the ones that would have definitely hit me.
The Deadly General’s shove knocked targets back even if they guarded, so that was something I had to be wary of. When possible, I took advantage of it to help dodge the other enemies’ attacks.
The optimal tactic changed with each passing moment, but... logically, all I had to do was maintain this pattern. The only problems were the accuracy of my predictions and the speed of my reactions to match them.
Before the battle, I claimed that I could handle five of them at once, so I’d take on the tank role. Maeda and Yano didn’t seem to believe me, but it looked like I’d really be able to keep this up.
“That’s amazing, Takashiro! You’re seriously avoiding every hit!”
“The heck?! Symbologists are supposed to have crappy AGI! How are you not taking any damage from all those enemies?! Are you cheating?”
“This is Ren we’re talking about. He’s really good at figuring out enemy movements quickly and accurately. It’s not about stats; it’s pure skill. AGI has nothing to do with it.” Akira seemed proud, for some reason.
“So uh, are you all just gonna stand there, or are you gonna attack?!” That was supposed to be the plan! While I was acting as a decoy, they were supposed to focus down the Ancient Dolls.
“Whoops! Totally slipped my mind!”
“Okay! Let’s do it!”
Yano unequipped her shield and grabbed her gun, and Akira began slashing away at the dolls with Skyfall. With the vast level difference, their attacks were mostly evaded, but our strategy was essentially “throw enough dirt and some will stick,” using brute force to chip away at them.
Yano readied her gun and made use of the AP she collected through guarding. “Ultimate ability! Shadow Blaster!”
This ultimate was chained from sky pirate and hunter’s Stealth Shot, along with the gun art, Double Blast. Stealth Shot makes the user transparent, so the shooter doesn’t gain aggro. When matched with a double-hit art, it becomes a powerful attack that doesn’t put the user in danger. It’s very safe damage.
Yano still had a considerable amount of aggro from the Joint Magic earlier, so if she wasn’t careful, she might’ve ended up surpassing my aggro and getting attacked. With her shield still unequipped, she would get wrecked immediately, attracting the mummies as she died. But with her no-aggro attack, she was safe as long as I didn’t mess up.
Yano’s ultimate was a direct hit, and Akira’s chip damage and the continued effect of Stealth Shot helped them clean up the remainder of the dolls’ health. Gunshots were unavoidable by nature; they were the most accurate means of attack.
The first Ancient Doll went down, followed by the second. I was still rocking a full HP bar, and the cycle only got easier and easier as enemies fell. Three Deadly Generals remained. The rest would be easy.
“All right, I’m ready! Ultimate ability! Saint’s Crescent!”
The three generals fell to the red zone all at once, and Maeda finished them off one at a time with Exheal.
“Woohoooo! We’re getting there! We’re really doing this!”
“Heck yeah! We won!”
“I thought this would be much harder...”
“Your perfect guards saved the day, Takashiro!”
“Good job, Ren. Those were some god-tier reflexes!”
“Heheh... Aww, it was nothing.” I couldn’t help but bask in the praise of all these cuties!
“But hey, if you’re that agile with symbologist, imagine how much your skill could shine with a high-AGI frontline class like magic knight or martial artist!”
“Dead End does deal formidable damage, but symbologist just can’t stand up to enemy fire afterward.”
“Maybe so, but I’m just not interested in the strong classes.”
My style was basically to stand in the back and then one-shot kill the enemy when my time came. Front-line fighters and tanks needed to have ways to manage aggro, but I was the opposite. Without a taunt skill of my own to take aggro, my only aggro gain was through my ultimate. My burst damage was all I had. No matter what I did or where I went, I was a drama cannon through and through. This fight was an exception—a plan B.
“Haha... I guess you are the Emperor of Underpowered.”
“It feels like such a waste of skill...”
“No matter what anyone says, Ren never lets go of his obsession.”
“Akira, you always get me.”
“I don’t ‘get’ you. I just give up on persuading you because you’re so dumb.”
“What?! That’s news to me!”
“Heehee, you two are such good friends.”
“What Kotomi means to say is, ‘Takashiro, flirt with me, instead! Pretty please?!’“
“I most certainly did not! That didn’t even sound like me, Yuuna, you dummy!”
“Oww! You didn’t have to hit me, Kotomi. I thought I was doing you all a favor by providing a rough translation.”
“I don’t want your favors! Come on, let’s go!” Maeda moved to the vanguard of the party and continued onward.
We were able to match our previous successes in battle, but the road ahead was becoming very labyrinthine. Despite our confusion, we had no trouble mowing down foe after foe.
As we continued searching, Maeda entertained herself by feeding Draco, until—
“Chirp chirp! Chirp chirp!” He let out a few excited cries, and suddenly his body started glowing!
“Huh?!”
“Ooh! He’s all glowy!”
“Draco, what’s wrong?!”
“D-Did his stomach explode?!”
I checked my Log window.
Draco’s growth level increased!
Please choose a skill for it to learn:
Well, hello there! “Oh, sweet! It says he’s grown enough to learn a skill.”
Nice, nice, nice! This was the best part of pet-raising mechanics! So what could he learn, then? The list was as follows:
Regenerator (Passive)
Effect: Pet dragon will heal nearby players’ HP at regular intervals.
Can be used on all members of master’s party.
Heal rate: 5 HP per second.
Pickup (Passive)
Effect: Occasionally gathers materials when a material-gathering point is nearby. (Tools not necessary)
Functions even when master is logged out.
Target Marker (Passive)
Effect: Functions as a marker for area-of-effect magic and skills. Only works on master’s magic and skills.
When pet dragon is targeted by magic/skills that can be freely placed, the area-of-effect will move along with the pet dragon.
Looked like all of them were passive support skills. Interesting, interesting. Two of the three looked especially useful to me, but after considering how desirable each of them would be, I arrived at one conclusion. Yup, it could only be that one!
“What can he learn?”
“Look at this message. Regenerator, Pickup, and Target Marker.” I enlarged my Log window to show the rest of the party.
“Which one would you all choose?”
“Regenerator is the best one, yeah? It works on the whole party, and you can never have too many heals.”
“Safety first.” Maeda nodded in agreement to Yano’s choice.
“But I wouldn’t ignore Pickup. With the forced logout window, this lets you get ahead even in the dead hours.” Akira’s choice was understandable, and I could see Pickup’s charm.
“Cool, cool. I’ll choose Target Marker, then.” I tapped Target Marker and confirmed my choice.
“Greeeeat, thanks for asking our opinions!”
“What was the point of asking?”
“Ren, why’d you choose that one?”
“Regenerator has a chance of messing up my 1 HP Dead Ends, so it’d be more of a burden than anything. Pickup is a good choice, but Target Marker is perfect for symbologists. It’s the only answer.”
I had to try it out right then and there. I began casting Devitalizing Circle.
Ooh! With Target Marker equipped, I can even target Draco. I cast the spell, and a circle of light appeared around him.
“Draco, fly around in circles!”
“Chirp!” Draco posed as if bowing in assent before flying around our party. As he moved, my magic circle followed him.
It worked! Now I could move my circles around.
“Symbologists normally can’t move their circles after placing them. This is a major development! Good job, Draco! Good boy!”
“Chirp chirp chirp!” Draco seemed very proud as I praised him. What a cute little guy.
“Huh. So you can move your circles. But what’s so good about that?”
“If we can manage aggro properly, then the enemies aren’t moving, anyway. Why do you need to move the circles?” Yano and Maeda didn’t quite seem to get it just yet.
“It must be for PvP, right? If Draco chases your enemy, you can then use your circles more effectively.”
Aggro doesn’t matter in player vs player battles; all someone has to do is look at where the circle is and move away from it. With Draco’s ability to move them, my circles would indeed be better in PvP.
“True, but I think it’s a good general boost for symbologist. I’ll get back to you ladies once I do some testing. For now, let’s keep going.”
We were in the middle of a “one wrong step and you’re done for“ expedition. We had to focus on the task at hand.
After a while, we found an incredibly ornate door that shone gold.
“Whoa! This door definitely smells like treasure!”
“It does. But...”
“It almost seems too conspicuous...”
“What do we do now...?”
Gatekeepers lay in wait before the door.
Deadly King: Level 99
Crown Icon (rare monster)
This guy looked crazy strong. He was the next level up from the Deadly Generals we fought before. His muscular body, far larger than the generals, was covered with golden armor, adorned with jewels that revealed his high status. Blood-red light emanated from the depths of his eyes, matching the ominous aura exuded by his obsidian two-handed sword. For a skeleton, he had immense presence. Overall, this boss was awe-inspiring.
Two Deadly Generals stood at his side as well. There looked to be seven gatekeepers in total guarding the treasure vault.
“Whoooa. So uh, Takashiro, how’re we gonna deal with this?”
“Don’t ask me... These guys look way too strong.”
“Aren’t you here to make up a crazy plan to get us out of this? C’mon, hop to it!” She must have thought I was some sort of miracle worker.
“Why does it have to be me?”
“That’s just how much we believe in you, Takashiro. Can’t you think of anything?”
“You’re the strategist, Ren. Be the best Zhuge Liang you can be!”
“I think I’d rather be Liu Bei here. If I left things to my cohorts, I’d be far more likely to live through this.” I tried to jest, but my mind was running a mile a minute.
Well, I couldn’t use Dead End here. We’d come this far into the dungeon, so I didn’t want to risk messing it up and doing it all over again.
Hmm... Or maybe... we didn’t have to defeat them at all. If we could just get inside the treasure room...
I wanted to test something before I showed it off, but maybe this was the time to use it. It may or may not work... but it was all I had!
Okay, let’s do it!
“All right, then. How about we give up on victory?” I presented the idea with a smile.
“Whaaaa?! I don’t wanna go home empty-handed after all this junk!” Yano was obviously disappointed with my idea.
“Oh, no no. We’re not giving up on the treasure.”
“Then what’s the plan, Takashiro?”
“We forget about beating these guys. Someone acts as a decoy for the enemies while everyone else rushes for the treasure. We all know that door just reeks of treasure, right? I can be the decoy.”
“Just you? How are you gonna do it? Is this gonna be some guard chip damage thing again?”
“Nope. I doubt I can guard the king’s attacks without taking damage, so it’s up to Draco. This is that new thing I was talking about before; I’m gonna take it for a test drive here.” I handed the Ancient Imperial Key to Akira.
“I’ll draw them away. Everyone else, you go in and grab the treasure.”
“Are you sure about this? Draco’s just gonna move your circles, right?”
“I’m positive! Even if I screw this up, that’s important data for my testing. No matter how it goes, I win!”
“That doesn’t sound very sure!”
“Heehee. Takashiro always looks so enthusiastic at times like this.”
“He’s a testing fetishist or something. Okay, Ren. Go for it. I’m excited to see what happens.” Yano was being her usual self, but Akira and Maeda were much more receptive.
“Okay... Here goes. When they move away from the door, get in there ASAP.”
Leaving them with those words, I began casting a spell.
“Enervating Circle!”
In case you’ve forgotten, it lowers AGI. I made the circle just large enough to contain every enemy in the army guarding the door.
Casting complete. A circle of light appeared, with Draco at its center.
Akira clapped her hands together when she realized what I wanted. “Oh! Ren, does Enervating Circle make enemies run slower?”
“Bingo!”
“Oh, wow! We’re about to witness another Ren miracle!”
I then called out to my pet. “To me, Draco!”
I cradled him in my arms, and—it was go time! First, I dashed toward the door to the treasure vault. When I came close enough, I entered enemy aggro range. With the Deadly King at the forefront, all seven enemies moved at once.
All right, then. Time to book it! I screeched to a halt, then turned 180 degrees and ran away. The game of tag began. Running past the rest of my party, I began going back the way we came from. Since I had aggro, the boss group ignored my party and continued chasing me.
Afterward, Akira and co. moved for the treasure vault. Good, good. But now that they had chased me so far, the enemies leashed, turning back to return to their resting place. I’d have to run as fast as I could if I didn’t want to let them die before they got the treasure!
With the insane level difference, my foes also moved much faster than normal. But even with one or two hundred more AGI than me, it didn’t mean they were twice as fast. Everyone has a base movement speed which steadily increases with the unit’s status bonuses. The difference between classes is a major factor too; for example, four-legged beastman types are the fastest. Skeletons, meanwhile, are slow. At lower levels, they can hardly even stand. But despite all that, this boss group was surprisingly fast, as I’ve already noted.
At the entrance to the huge room that housed the door to the treasure vault, they had already gotten too close to me for comfort.
“Chirp! Chirp chirp!”
“Don’t worry! They won’t get me that easily!”
The Deadly King stepped into the Enervating Circle centered on Draco, slowing him down immensely.
Still running, I was able to make some more distance between us. As the circle moved away from him, the king gained speed again. When he got closer to me, he stepped into the circle and slowed down again.
We repeated this process over and over.
“Chichirp?”
“Outside the circle, they’re faster than me. But inside, I reign supreme as the king of speed!”
As a result of the circle’s debuff, they were slowed down. That’s the endgame of the inner-circle reversal you see here. So as long as I kept hold of Draco and kept my circle going, they couldn’t catch up with me.
Enervating Circle cuts enemy AGI by 25%, and as Akira said, it decreases their movement speed by 25% as a side effect. If the king was still faster than me inside the circle, I’d strike out. This strategy was an unrehearsed gamble, so I’m glad it ended up working out this well.
“It worked! I can outrun them forever at this rate!” Pulling enemies and outrunning them like this has various names in games; “kiting“ and “training“ come to mind.
I picked Target Marker for exactly this sort of battle plan. I’ve found a new possible role for symbologist: marathon runner!
The fact that circles can’t be resisted was a major selling point. As long as you can keep the circle moving, nobody can match your marathoning potential. If there were a way to combine sleep attacks with this strategy, a player could outright bore his enemies to death. This could be a dangerous power, if only I had the means to wield it.
So, my one-minute circle was going to expire soon. I’d best recast it immediately. I stopped moving and rushed to cast a new one, while the boss group slowly approached me inside my current circle.
The casting completed, overwriting the old circle and allowing me to make distance between us again. All right! I even had time to recast! Heheheh, there was no way to stop me from kiting them now! Maybe I could even drag them outside the tomb!
I continued on the path we entered from, recasting as necessary. My MP was getting dangerously low, but I was far from out yet!
“Turnover!”
My HP fell to one digit, filling my MP to max. When I did this, of course—
Groooooooooan...
Crimson Mummy army: level 78
There it is! Our handshake party begins anew!
But I remained within the center of my Enervating Circle, allowing me to escape long before the mummies could reach me. I ran, ran, and ran some more—
There was still a long time before I’d reach the outside. Would I make it?! On a whim, I looked behind me again, and realized that a horrifying scene had developed.
Crimson Mummies are embedded in the walls all throughout the dungeon. As a result of my low-HP mad dash, hundreds of blood-red mummies had gathered! What an insane train of monsters! I’d never even seen a mob like this before!
The Deadly King was so buried by the red mass that I couldn’t even see him! A normal online game would get bogged down immensely with all of these monsters onscreen, but the good ol’ VRMMO didn’t even miss a beat.
I couldn’t help but laugh all the while! “Bahahahaha! What the heck, dude?! This is hilarious!”
I approached the exit, still cackling uncontrollably.
Take a right there, then two more lefts! I can do it, I can do it, I can do it! I can really do this! This is my victory lap!
Before long, I leapt from the entrance of the dungeon. Wow! The blue sky was a sight for sore eyes!
“Woohooooo! Goooooal! Haaahahah! I win, I win!”
Apparently the undead army couldn’t chase me out any further. They just stopped and stood there, as if there was an invisible wall at the exit. It’s just not their habitat, I guess. In most MMOs, enemies have set habitats that they reside in, and they can’t leave that area. After a while, they’d just go back to where they belonged. That rule seems to apply to UW, as well.
“Great job, Draco! You’re my savior, little buddy!”
“Chirp chirp! Chichichiiirp!”
In my excitement, I pet Draco like he’d never been pet before. He seemed to love it.
From the writhing mass of undead emerged one solitary figure from the cave. It was an awe-inspiring skeleton with a body clad in shining armor.
“So the Deadly King is the only one who can leave, huh? That’s a king for you.”
What would I do now? The gang should have had over ten minutes to get the treasure by now.
Then... how about I try for a bonus challenge?
I’d like to see how far my one-shot wonder can take me, for future reference.
“Let’s do this, Draco!”
“Chirp!”
I cast Enfeebling Circle at its maximum radius, reducing my remaining MP to 0. With the head of my Canesword unscrewed, I was ready to unleash my ultimate.
When the Deadly King approached, his eyes glowed even redder than before. He roared and swung his obsidian broadsword—
A vertical slash? If so, I should be able to evade it and slide for home base!
Symbologist may have low AGI, but if I could just time this well enough...!
Crash!
That was the sound of his obsidian broadsword piercing the earth. He missed me!
“Here goes! Ultimate ability! Dead End!” As I slid in front of him, I unleashed my ultimate.
Ren activated Dead End.
2,561 damage dealt to Deadly King!
It worked! But... his HP bar hardly budged. I guess it wasn’t surprising for a level 99 monster to have astronomical health.
Not letting my awe get the better of me, I instantly changed weapons to my Fanatic’s Staff. The king was knocked back for a moment by my damage, leaving me just enough time to act.
Deadly King then kicked at me as I still stood before him. I couldn’t dodge that in time. I’d have to guard! And if he broke my guard, I’d die instantly. Talk about a sudden death situation.
Deadly King attacked.
But Ren guarded the attack!
Putting aside the fact that it was just a plain old kick, similar to what his weak attack would be in a fighting game, I really could guard it! But if I can guard that—
What if I could stay in a position that forced him to use his weak attack over and over? To provoke him to use his weak attack, I’d to stick to him like glue. That meant directly in front of him is the safest place!
...And so I stuck to him like glue, guarding against each kick as it came. He would sometimes use a spinning sword slash, but it was rare and had a long wind-up, so I had little trouble avoiding it. But since I would have to jump out of the way each time, that would make me vulnerable. In those cases, I would dodge his sword again and jump back in front of him. The only possible way to do that was to watch out for another vertical slash. Whenever he showed signs of preparing for any other attack, I’d just keep my distance.
Jump in, approach, guard, and dodge. I had found a good routine. At the very least, this would let me bide my time.
Five minutes passed, bringing Final Strike and Turnover off cooldown. Now I could use Dead End again!
I was just in the middle of approaching him and dodging another kick. After that, the king telegraphed his spin slash by turning his body. Now was my chance! I took that opportunity to leap and dash away, making greater distance between us. There, I opened my item box and forged a Canesword as quickly as the game would allow. My new weapon was equipped and ready to go.
The king approached and telegraphed another vertical slash. I couldn’t miss this opportunity! Time for my second shot!
Ren activated Dead End.
2,561 damage dealt to Deadly King!
Let’s see how far I can take this loop!
Relying on the routine I had formulated on the fly, I repeated my actions over and over and over...
Until—how many times had I even done this?
At this point, Deadly King’s HP was down to about half. But I wasn’t done yet! I was intent on staying on this train until its last stop!
Or, as it turned out, until its emergency detour.
“Are you okay?!”
Oh, it was one of those second-year upperclassmen.
Shinsuke Miura (2-B)
Level 68 Paladin, party leader
Huh, my HP was back to full. He must have healed me.
“Takashiro! We’d like to help you take him down. May we lend a hand?”
A quick glance to the side revealed that all ten of the upperclassmen from before, all in the level 60 range, were present. If I had this many people ready to help me, maybe I really could do it...
I tossed my stubborn pride aside; at this point, I’d gladly accept any help I could get.
“Yes, please!”
“All right, then! Guardian Force!” Miura activated the skill immediately, standing in front of me protectively. He spoke to me as he took the Deadly King’s assault. “Did you drag him out here and deal this much damage all by yourself?!”
“Yes, sir! But I did get some help from this little guy.” I looked over at Draco.
“That’s amazing, especially for your level! You’re a machine! I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen it myself!”
The other upperclassmen stood in their respective battle positions and joined the fight.
Now, what should I do in the midst of all this? I’m probably far, far ahead in aggro, so holding back and focusing on dodging attacks was probably my best bet.
But while I considered my next actions—
“HEH HEH HEH... YOU ARE FORMIDABLE, INDEED.” The Deadly King spoke! Were all high-level enemies like this?! He was just a pile of bones when all was said and done, but he almost looked like he was grinning. “I MUST COMMEND YOUR CONSIDERABLE STRENGTH—WITH MY ULTIMATE ATTACK!”
The Deadly King raised his broadsword in the air before plunging it down into the earth. “GAZE UPON ME AND DESPAIR! CRIMSON CALAMITY!”
Holy crap!
As he activated his ultimate, flames erupted from the earth where his broadsword stood. The fire shot out in random directions, engulfing us all. Before I realized it, my vision was filled with nothing but red flames. Against such a long-range, high-speed instakill, the upperclassmen and I had no counter.
A cacophony of screams swelled around me.
And then—only the Deadly King remained standing.
Wow, we all died at once...
Did he go into an enrage mode when he lost a certain amount of HP? I’d have to think of a way to deal with that if I ever wanted to beat him.
The Deadly King is one heck of an adversary! Level 99 rare monsters were no joke, it turned out..
“HEH HEH HEH... COME FACE ME AGAIN, BRAVE WARRIORS.” With a smug look, he left those parting words and majestically returned to the tomb. He was way too cool for a skeleton...
Sucks for you, though! My girls just ransacked your treasure vault, buddy! I wish I could see the shock on your boney face when you get home!
But that king did seem like kind of a battle junkie. Maybe he was just using the treasure as bait because he wanted to keep fighting people? Either way, that was fun!
I’m gonna take you down someday, Deadly King!
“Hahaha... It’s a bit embarrassing for all ten of us to die right after we came to help you.” Miura spoke apologetically, despite his avatar being stuck inspecting the ground like mine.
“Oh, no, thank you for coming. Sorry to get you killed too.”
“No need to apologize. Killing the Deadly King was our goal, so seeing him outside the dungeon was an amazing opportunity.”
“Huh. Does he drop good loot?”
“Yeah, his weapon and armor are decent. But you saw his ultimate, didn’t you? He drops the Crimson Calamity book when he dies. It’s really strong, and the cool part is that any weapon can use it.”
“Whoa! That’s really cool!” I hoped I could take him down one day, just for that!
“All right, let’s go back. We should do this again, if we happen to meet up.”
“Sounds good. Right, it’s time to go—” I’d have to respawn. I could only wonder if the girls got that Guild Establishment Permit.
Only one way to find out. Back to the home point!
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