Retrieving his swords Liam watched as the monster's body slowly fell over, its eyes showing obvious relief. Liam even had the illusion of reading a 'thank you' from Tom's lips.
The veteran sighed seeing the blood on his swords while the monster's wounds quickly dried up. An obvious change had taken place in the game's rules. In this area covered by a dark blanket, C had silently turned the fights more graphic.
Liam wasn't really affected being used to all sorts of sights from the game, but he hoped his friends were fine.
Shaking his head Liam discarded his worries, turning to analyse the previous fight. He was quite satisfied with defeating an elite monster of the same level without activating his ultimate.
An efficient use of his skills had ended the fight quickly at the cost of 2622 out of his 4947HP and 75 out of his 90 stance.
Of course, if he had used his ultimate skill, a loss of HP would have been unacceptable.
Suddenly a rustling sound came from the undergrowth. Liam's head jerked to the side. He noticed more movements as two figures slowly stepped forth from behind the trees.
The young man didn't hesitate this time. With a grin he activated [Holy Tempest], rushing towards the two grotesque elite monsters.
***
After separating from the others Silver Blade and Cyclone approached a small village. As they got closer, they could hear faint sounds but there was none of the liveliness befitting a village.
The two women entered through an opening in the wooden wall, their faces immediately taking on ugly expressions.
They saw a man sitting on a large chair in the centre of the village. He wore dark armor, proudly revealing the two black wings behind his back. His hand played with a black dagger occasionally flashing it before the eyes of a few frightened villagers surrounding him.
The villagers were all dressed in tatters, their bodies so thin one could see their ribs, yet their eyes remained lifeless and dull as they picked up food from a plate and handed it to the man in black.
And below the man's feet laid a woman with the ears and paws of a dog. She wasn't experimented upon but was part of the beastkin.
Although beastkin had animalistic features they were an intelligent race like all others. They would sometimes be discriminated against but never treated like outright animals as was the case here.
Watching all this Cyclone's eyes instantly turned red, even somewhat teary, anger festering in her heart.
"You bastard! Let these people go!"
The young woman raised her wand, just about to attack when Silver Blade hastily held her down.
"Don't be impulsive. We are still in a game, alright."
Cyclone gnashed her teeth, attempting to kill the dark-armoured man with her eyes.
"Sure. But especially in a game we need to punish someone like this!"
"Of course. But let's advance step by step."
"What do you mean?"
Cyclone calmed down slightly following Silver Blade with her eyes as the tank pointed towards the sides of the street.
Only now did she notice the figures standing among the shadows of dilapidated houses, wearing similar dark armours and staring at the players.
"Great. More idiots to send to the afterlife."
"I agree!"
Silver Blade and Cyclone quickly discussed a strategy. Both were somewhat eager to show off their new skills, deciding to initiate the fight with them.
Cyclone immediately gathered mana on her wand, starting a comparatively short cast of four seconds.
Simultaneously Silver Blade advanced carefully, stopping as soon as she entered detection range. Of the about twenty enemies four turned their eyes towards her.
Silver Blade's eyes narrowed as she stomped her foot heavily, leaving a mark in the dirt. A magic, grey like fog, spread from her, sticking close to the floor and forming a large circle around her, encompassing the enemies within.
As soon as the black-armoured enemies began moving they had to realize that their speed dropped considerably, which was the most obvious effect of Silver Blade's new skill [Aura of the sloth].
Before they could even take a couple of steps Silver Blade immediately switched to the next skill, using her version of [Double Slash]. Stabbing her sword into the floor she permeated it with holy magic, causing two rings of bright light to erupt.
When the skill hit the four enemies their aggro was firmly secured by the tank, leaving Cyclone free to act and giving Silver Blade time to check out the enemies.
[Warrior of the dark storm
Rank: common
Level: 29
HP: 9300/9300]
Silver Blade had no idea what the Dark Storm was, but it didn't matter. Whether it was dark storm or white breeze these evil people deserved to die. She watched calmly as the dark-armoured enemies came closer at a snail's pace.
Just as they raised their weapons for a first attack, Cyclone had completed her cast.
"Take this!"
With an angry shout the smaller woman pointed with her wand. A big, crackling lightning bolt was unleashed, aiming at one of the enemies, like heavenly punishment.
It slammed squarely into the first enemy's pale face, burning his hair. Yet it didn't stop. After ferociously driving through the man's body it jumped to the next enemy, doing exactly what one would expect from a skill named [Chain Bolt].
[-829!]
[-403!]
Unfortunately, the magical damage caused by the skill dropped by ten percent with each jump while the lightning damaged dropped by five percent. Thus, the fourth warrior only received about 850 points of damage.
But just like every skill of the lightning element, [Chain Bolt] also harmonized well with Cyclone's passive.
Silver Blade was surprised as lightning played around the bodies of the first and fourth enemy, paralyzing them. From their eyes one could see that they endured quite some pain, but the two women showed no sympathy.
Now only two enemies could attack, taking some pressure off Silver Blade's shoulders. She readied her shield as both warriors slashed with their black-as-ink swords.
[Stance -13]x2
Silver Blade frowned, confused as the low cost of stance indicated a comparatively low damage. However, the enemies suddenly pulled a surprising move. Their second hands conjured swords formed from dark magic, stabbing towards the tank.
[Stance -7]
[-367!]
[-154!]
Silver Blade didn't react quick enough, causing one sword to reach her flank. It didn't deal much damage, but this was expected since the damage was of magical nature. Only the accompanying dark damage was quite unexpected from a common enemy.
"Dare to hurt my best friend, idiots!"
Cyclone's voice was indignant as she waved her wand, focusing on the first enemy. A normal attack followed by a [Lightning Strike] arrived, still aiming for the enemy's head.
[-753!]
[-1093!]
[-302!]
A violent bolt of crisscrossing lightning flashed through the air. As it struck the enemy, the warrior couldn't help but wince. Simultaneously the second part of Cyclone's passive activated.
A bolt of lightning separated from the struck enemy, shooting towards the other paralysed warrior.
[-201!]
Although the damage wasn't too much no one would ever reject some additional points.
A short lull ensued before it was surprisingly Cyclone who attacked next, aiming for the same enemy twice in a row.
[-753!]
The mage looked somewhat confused, asking Silver Blade:
"Do you think this is a bug?"
Silver Blade couldn't help but chuckle as she shook her head:
"That's my [Aura of the sloth]. It doesn't only reduce movement speed but also attack speed."
"Wow, that's quite powerful. You are effectively reducing the enemies' damage per second!", exclaimed Cyclone with genuine admiration.
"Yeah, I'm quite happy with it. But we have to see how it performs against bosses."
"Do you think they will be less affected?"
"Should be. It's a control skill after all."
"Makes sense..."
While the two women were talking the enemies showed a hint of humiliation. If they had more intelligence they would probably complain along the lines of:
"Hey, we are moving slowly, but we are still moving!"
Yet now they could only express themselves through their actions, striking Silver Blade's shield with their swords.
[Stance -12]x2
[Stance -6]x2
This time Silver Blade was better prepared, reducing the cost of stance. Yet her brows furrowed as her stance was quickly being used up. Especially since the previously paralyzed enemies also managed to free themselves now.
Elated after finally being able to move they slowly swung their swords as well, further pressuring Silver Blade.
Cyclone, noticing the development, sent anther normal attack before starting to cast [Static Domain].
Suddenly Silver Blade showed a faint smile as she felt something. A pulse ran through the grey magic constituting her [Aura of the sloth]. Magic coalesced around the NPCs feet, binding them in place, adding another control effect.
The black armoured warriors looked exasperated, helplessly watching as Silver Blade took a few steps back, leaving their attack range.
"Damn, you can do that as well?!", exclaimed Cyclone in pleasant surprise.
Yet the timing unfortunately wasn't perfect as Cyclone was still occupied with casting, unable to deal damage to the rooted enemies.