The effects of the Storm Priest skill could be divided into three main categories.
Until the skill meter was fully charged, the caster was immune to damage. In a way, it was a skill of great value. Even if it was impossible to move in that state, an invincibility skill was still an invincibility skill. In the game, superplay was possible if used well.At the end of the throw, the pitcher acquired an enormous amount of defense statistics evenly. When this effect was combined with temporal invincibility, it was not unreasonable to consider it as the highest grade survival skill. But that was not all.This was a wide area ability that extended around the caster until Storm Priest mode ended. The damage rate was too high to call it a simple survival skill, just as the greatest defense was attack.
«It will arrive soon».
The moment I raised the shield under my eyes and crouched down, the storm wall raised around the monster gradually expanded and enveloped the entire sanctuary.
[100%.]
This change in effect indicated that the skill load was over.
¡Shaaaaaaaaaa!
Strong winds enveloped my body. It wasn't as difficult to discern an inch ahead as it was to be inside the Eye of the Storm. However, as if there were blades hidden in the raging winds, something in the shape of a bright white dagger hit my armor and body.
[You are taking damage.]
[You are taking damage.]
[You are taking damage.]
[You are taking damage.]
This was the reason why I sent my comrades first. This type of wide area ability was impossible to take with a shield in place.
¡Kakak, cocoa, kak! ¡Bang!
Arms, back, shoulders, waist, thighs, calves; To the point that it was impossible to specify which part, discharges were transmitted simultaneously from several points. It was as if dozens of people were throwing snowballs full of stones from all sides and non-stop.
Hmm, yeah, that sounds pretty good.
True, considering my physical and mana stamina, it wasn't like a single hit; This kind of small overlapping damage barely left a mark. And what about Amelia? His physical stamina was not as high as mine.
What the hell is this girl?
Surprisingly, he was dodging each and every blow.
Wow, how high does your agility stat have to be to gain dynamic visual acuity and reflexes like that? I told him to come because he said he could do it, and I guess he really can.
Of course, she wasn't jealous. Why would I be?
«You look busy».
Amelia didn't answer me. Was he telling me to concentrate instead of chattering?
«¡Kwohhhh!»
Just then, the shell monster with an amputated arm roared more menacingly than ever and charged at me. This was the effect of my threat level. If he were a human using that ability, he would have tried to kill Amelia first.
¡Kwaaaaaaclaim!
As soon as I caught the bastard's ignorantly large body with my shield, I found myself pushed back. But an action as big as that was destined to leave an opening.
Stab!
Amelia stabbed a dagger in the back. Due to his jump in defense statistics, he did not penetrate as deeply as before.
He didn't even flinch now.
Even after being stabbed, the bastard swung his front paw towards me without hesitation.
¡Voom!
This was the difficult part of the Storm Priest. As if to demonstrate that the greatest defense was attack, the fact that defense statistics went up meant the same as an increase in attack power. It meant he could focus his defense time on just attacking.
Dash.
I quickly dodged to the side and widened the distance. A while ago, Ley Line or Eye of the Storm would have been used. Now, there was no need to worry about those follow-up attacks. Since this world was a ruthless place where you had to give up something to maintain something else, Storm Priest also had a penalty.
«¡Kwohh!»
Sure, shout. You can't use your skills now, anyway.
The use of skills was not allowed. A Storm Priest who reached this phase had to fight relying only on hand-to-hand combat and that wide area ability. The duration in the game was only ten minutes.
If we can't kill him in that time, let's jump without looking back.
As soon as it was possible to use an ability, the raid would be a failure. Not only would he start using all kinds of cursed abilities again, but his wounds would slowly heal once that mode was finished. With Amelia as the sole primary damageer, the recovery speed would be faster than the damage sending speed.
[You have launched Oscillation].
Without worrying about my remaining MPs, I used my skills like there was no tomorrow, judging that normal hits wouldn't even be able to divert his attention.
«¡Amelia!»
Whether we could catch this guy or not depended on how well the main damageer did.
«...Tsk.» At my scream, Amelia clicked her tongue and brandished her dagger again. From the look on his face, it was clear that he just wanted to hang out.
Tsk, gente sentence nada que perder.
I didn't understand it at all. Whether we like it or not, we had to fight this guy for ten minutes. Why hold on?
If we can catch him it will be a jackp-Oh, right. It doesn't get anything out with a drop of essence.
It was understandable that Amelia showed no enthusiasm. His essence points were full, anyway. But since the magician had already escaped, the essence could not be stored in a test tube. Even if we could, it would be difficult to liquidate her once she was sold, since she was from Noark. He probably hoped he wouldn't see us again after today.
In that sense, I gave him a new motivation. «If we kill him, I won't claim ownership of Belverson's team!»
But what is this?
«...Were you thinking about claiming ownership?» Amelia spoke innocently.
So, were you thinking of eating it yourself? When all you did was show up at the end and deliver the final blow?
«...You stay with Carmilla and I with Belverson. We had already decided».
Hmm, I did hear that that was the agreement, but it wasn't made with me.
«I didn't hear any of that!» I screamed as I dodged Storm Gush's clutches.
Amelia murmured quietly: «... I see».
Somehow, I thought I knew what he meant this time. I must have seen my logic forced into the barbaric style that would come in the future. Thanks to that, a little enthusiasm blossomed in his eyes. As his employer, it was the most desirable situation.
¡Boom!
Thus began a more active battle. Although we were already getting ahead of ourselves when talking about loot, the possibility was strictly half and half: capture the monster in time, or fail and deal with the problems and losses that fleeing would bring us. It was still difficult to judge what the outcome would be. We could only hope for the first while we worked hard.
«¡Behell-aaaaaahhhhh!»
Drops of sweat and blood ran down my skin. Still, there was no time to rest. The more he annoyed this bastard, the more useful he would be to Amelia, who was pulling damage into a thin tightrope.
Stab!
The monster's claw landed on my shoulder.
Clic.
Losing its seam, the shell opened and fell to the ground.
Damn repair costs.
My hands were shaking, but I decided to think positively. The armor was already as destroyed as it could be. Even if I had avoided that last one, it wouldn't have made much of a difference.
«¡Amelia!»
The Storm Gush ignored me and brandished its tail at Amelia.
Dash.
Fortunately, she avoided him by jumping hastily.
Dagger!
A dagger hidden in the storm stabbed into Amelia's body. It wasn't surprising at all. At first he dodged them all, but as the battle dragged on, small and large wounds accumulated on his body.
«Ugh.»
The location of this one was not good, nothing less than the thigh. It seemed to have touched a vein because an incredible amount of blood was gushing from the pierced leg. However, the real problem lay elsewhere.
Dash.
It was the fact that there was a problem with Amelia's mobility.
Damn sea.
As I feared, Amelia could not attack as actively after the injury as before and this resulted in a drop in DPS.
We won't be able to finish him off at this rate.
My head was scrambled. Should I change the strategy now? Should we hold on and then bounce? And what about my repair cost? Who was going to reward us for our hardships?
...Let's continue a little more.
I quickly recapitulated my thoughts and made a decision. As much as our condition had worsened, this bastard was also clearly cornered. His vitality must have been hitting rock bottom.
«Human». That's when he spoke for the first time. With eyes full of resentment, he spoke that word. «Human!!!»
My body stiffened at that strange energy.
This line... wait, this monster was always able to talk?
I didn't remember it, no matter how much I thought about it. So was it a change that occurred in the reality patch? Anyway, I might think about this later. That wasn't important now.
[You have disabled Gigantization.]
[You have launched Gigantization.]
I quickly switched to Gigantization Mode (normal). This was because Transcendence could not be used during Gigantization (Transcendence) Mode.
[You have launched Transcendence. The next skill used will be reinforced].
It was actually a minimal difference. To make up for this difference, what was needed now was not a tank, but a distributor. Of course, he didn't have a large number of skills. So which one should I use?
Not jumping; Maybe I was facing a long-range guy with a weed body. With a fast moving ability, he couldn't even get 1% of this guy's stamina. Swing was the same. Activating Transcendence only increased the range, not the damage itself. This didn't make sense. However, there was an essence that never existed in any of my cultivation methods, but that I consumed by chance, and that curiously had helped me countless times on my journey until now.
[You have launched Burst of Flesh.]
Ski, tal leads in the evening.
[By the authority of the transcendental body, the ability inherent in the ability is released].
After casting the skill, I jumped forward. It was no longer an instant skill. It was now three seconds late, and instead the damage had increased greatly.
Hmm, I think it was about thirty-five times.
I only calculated it once or twice while studying Transcendence, but my memory must have been correct. There weren't many skills that increased damage in the game that much. Of course, the pure damage rating itself was low. First of all, this ability was only used to spray Acid Fluid; Its explosive power was low. Even multiplied by thirty-five, it was difficult to remove even 3% of a rank 3 monster's stamina. Well, I'd be happy with that for now.
Dash.
I ran forward once more and grabbed his neck with both arms: Barbarian Suicide Bomber Mode.
«Humanooooo!!!» The monster roared as it struggled to let go. Oh, to think he would willingly open his mouth for me.
Deslick.
I dropped my mace and put my hand on his snout.
¡Chomp!
The bastard immediately bit my hand with his thick teeth as if he wanted to call me crazy, but he was wrong about one thing.
I am a barbarian, not a human. Anyway, time is up.
When I finished counting the duration in my head, an explosion erupted from the hand in my mouth, although there were none of the sparks that should have accompanied an explosion.
¡Kabooommmm!
Yeah, if this wasn't an explosion, then what was? The moment the explosion occurred, my body floated in the air. That's how strong the strength was.
¡Boom!
Soon, my heavy body sank to the ground, and I hurriedly raised my head and looked towards where the bastard used to be. I suspected it when I saw that the wind had calmed down.
¡Shaaaaa!
The Storm Gush's body scattered like a halo of light.
[You killed a Storm Gush. EXP +7」
So, I got it.
[Achievement
Condition: Kill the first rank 3 monster.
Reward: Permanently increases your spirit stats +1.]
Was it because he had lived like a barbarian for so long? A sense of mental satisfaction arose only from the fact that he had emerged victorious from the battle. But, unfortunately, that satisfaction did not last long. An indescribable pain took over my entire body. The cause was clear.
[All defense statistics have been temporarily sealed].
Ha, I hadn't even thought that pain resistance would disappear after a Transcended Meat Explosion.
Oh, fu-
I hadn't experienced pain like this in so long that I couldn't even scream.
«Barbarian, are you okay?» Amelia's face entered my blurry vision. He said something strange. «You're lucky».
I didn't think he said it simply because we survived, because we managed to defeat that monster.
Oh, could it be...?
"¿Essen...ce...?"
«Yes, it came out».
What, really?
I raised my head a little higher and looked over myself. Then, I saw an ultramarine colored essence floating in the air. I figured I hadn't seen her before because my eyes weren't focusing.
Allujah.
I immediately crawled towards the essence above my stomach. Was the pain running through my body? And that? Humans were beings who could be blinded by greed in any situation.
«...Shouldn't you treat yourself first?»
Treatment could come later. It wasn't the first time my arm had been crushed.
«Ehhhssenciiia ...»
«How funny».
I pretended not to hear Amelia's words and crawled towards the essence like a man possessed.
[The essence of Storm Gush has seeped into your soul. Strength increased +90. Agility +55. Physical endurance has increased +75. Natural Regeneration has increased +50. Lung capacity has increased by +40. Lightning resistance has decreased -30].
A strong power filled the inside of my body. While enjoying that pleasant fullness, Amelia opened her subspace bracelet.
«Then have a potion now».
That was the moment.
¡Saaaaaaaaaa!
A bright light filtered from the entrance of the subspace. This seemed strange even to someone unfamiliar with magic, like me. A light in subspace did not occur by putting something inside.
So... what is it?
I guess Amelia was just as confused, because she hurried to reach in and search. Then he took out an object.
«Why is this...?»
It was a stone that emitted pure white light.