Arthur, Ema and Aurora joined Gideon behind the clutch of trees leading out to a clearing. Before them was a vibrant meadow, untouched by the violence of the System’s conquer. In it stood a lone figure, a figure the group was familiar with. This wasn’t the first time they’d seen a Threshen.
They’d traveled for over three weeks since the Bull’s death. Although they’d had to fight every few days, it hardly impeded their travel time, and the monsters were often cut down quickly. Every night since his second visit to the dreamscape, Arthur had practiced with his new Martial skill. Since Martial skills gave knowledge about forms, techniques and more as they leveled up, he had plenty of material to grind with.
The group of survivors that had now grown into the dozens had found the city nearly a day ago, but there had been a problem. For the past few days during their travel, there hadn’t been any monster attacks, and now they knew why.
The city was ringed with monsters, so thick that no one could even see the walls past them. They could see the structures inside, however, and though it was haggard and ramshackle, they could make out the outlines of buildings still being built.
They’d finally found it. They’re new home. All that was left was to find a way in.
The group of survivors carefully glided around the town under the cover of trees, circling it like sharks. While they hoped to find an opening, they were prepared to fight their way in. The flock of survivors were well hardened by now, and were anxious now that their goal was so close. They would do anything to get past that horde.
This was when they found the clearing, and its sole occupant, the Threshen.
“Is that what I think it is?” Gideon whispered, bringing his weapons out.
“Obviously,” Ema said, voice soft. “What should we do?”
Arthur looked at the Raid leader for a long moment. He wasn’t sure if there would be some other secret way into the city, but he realized that…. he wasn’t willing to look.
He’d done a lot of thinking after the empty suit of armor’s assertion. It’d said that his tendency to avoid conflict had been hampering his abilities; a fact he’d normally have no issue with. The problem was that he couldn’t afford such a languid attitude. While he still struggled to fully accept it, he was one of the individuals on Earth whom the people would depend on for safety. While he was unsure of Gordeau’s assertion that he was likely the only one, he was willing to acknowledge that he was one of them. And if that was the case, then he truly had no choice. He had a responsibility to end the lives of any Raiders he’d come across.
While it was a distasteful thing that he instinctually wanted to wrestle against, he didn’t have the time. This Raid leader was terrorizing a town right in front of him, and no matter his feelings on ending lives, he would not allow this to continue.
“I’m going. I know I don’t have any right to ask this of you, but… please, lend me your support one last time.” The others in the group gave varying reactions. Aurora looked confused, and Ema looked exasperated. Gideon, for his part, looked neutral and unsurprised, like he expected that answer.
“How many times do I have to tell you to stop overthinking things? Yes, you have a right to ask, and yes, we’re all going. Right?” Ema kept eye contact with Arthur as she sucker punched Gideon in the kidney. “Wha- erm… yeah, yeah I’m going too.” Aurora graced Arthur with her signature half-smile but didn’t say anything.
Arthur answered her with his own hallmark tender smile, turning it to the others in the group. His gratefulness was indescribable, and with that, the group of survivors made their way through the remaining trees… and into the clearing.
Arthur’s shield moved into place just in time to block an incoming swipe from one of the Raid Commander’s axes. It quickly became clear that their enemy was orders of magnitude faster than everyone in the party, even eclipsing Ema with its speed. While the various buffs and debuffs currently on the field helped to ameliorate that problem, the difference was still stark.
Sasaki Ema’s debuffs were powerful tools in any battle. Although the enemy’s dexterity stat was great, she was able to dampen that advantage by tripling the erosion of its dexterity. She followed that up by employing a maximum power 10% dexterity buff on Gideon, Arthur, and herself. While this didn’t make Arthur and Gideon able to keep up completely, it did create enough of a buffer for Ema to stay out of the enemy’s grasp. He had already tried to slip past the front line to strike at her several times, only to find empty air that was quickly filled by a charging shield.
The Threshen warrior had a skill that would passively infect anything he deemed as an enemy with Fear. While Arthur had never been immune to the terrors brought on by the System, this kind of Fear was different. It was a System recognized debuff, and one that could be quite bothersome if it activated at the wrong time.
[Fear]: The afflicted is fearful of the user and is liable to freeze in terror. Likelihood of the target freezing in terror is dependent upon the amount of damage dealt to the target.
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Fear was a condition that could afflict anyone, regardless of one’s courage. Rather, it competed with one’s level difference compared to the afflicter, as well as one’s willpower. An affliction Arthur employed acted quite similar to it; the Enraged condition. Whereas Enraged was an affliction unique to the Audacity Knight class, however, Fear was far more widespread in its use. This widespread nature obviously led to many counters being present in the Macrocosm, but none of such was available to a world still within the Quine.
As the Fearmonger’s level was far greater than anyone else’s in the party, his Fear affliction was quick to catch on. It wasn’t as fast as he thought it would be, however, courtesy of the team’s strong wills. Hopes and dreams weren’t enough to win battles, however, and one by one they each gained the Fear condition.
The entire team, minus Aurora, attacking the Raid leader at once led to them taking a steep early advantage. Arthur’s shield work was immaculate, catching the bug man’s blows despite being far slower than his opponent. Gideon was a flanking specter, smashing his carapace whenever Arthur gave him an opening with a shield bash or a particularly well-timed parry. Ema stopped his attacks whenever Arthur failed to keep up, her sky-high dexterity allowing her to see things the others failed to catch.
This wasn’t to say that the Raid leader never landed blows. His class, the Great Ravager, was one that could go with either strength or dexterity as its main stat. Keeping in line with his race’s customs, he opted for a speed focused build, and since his dual-axes were dexterity based weapons, they scaled off of his extreme dexterity stat. Because of this, his over 300 dexterity stat, now over 270 courtesy of Ema, would clash with Arthur’s defensive stats whenever he landed a blow.
That being said, his dexterity stat being lowered was doubly bad for him, because not only was he slower, but his weapons were dealing less damage. This was a great reprieve for Arthur, as the combination of his titanic defense, wellspring of vitality, and the Champion’s Plate that capitalized on both ensured that any hit the Raid leader landed was glancing at best.
This was all only for the beginning of the battle. The real clash began when all four members of the party was inflicted with the Fear debuff, fully bringing the Threshen’s second passive online.
[Panic Drinker]: Passive – Grants enhanced damage to enemies inflicted with [Fear]. Grants enhanced damage and DEX commensurate with amount of enemies inflicted with [Fear]. Enemies inflicted with [Fear] have reduced base damage and reduced DEX.
Not only did the ability increase his damage and dexterity for every person he inflicted, he’d also deal greater damage to anyone that held the affliction itself. On top of that, it also compounded additional debuffs on the afflicted, reducing their overall damage dealt and dexterity. It was a combination that would terrify most, regardless of the affliction’s namesake, as such a combination would often quickly spell death.
Even so, Arthur’s defensive stats were no joke, and were high enough to directly compete with enemies more than twice his level. While the Raid leader’s speed became blurring and his hits landed far more often, Arthur’s shield and armor held up, only taking true cuts and furrows occasionally.
Arthur’s shield was battered by a lightning quick dual-handed combo faster than he or Ema could react to. Taking advantage of the moment, the Threshen tried to slip past the knight to attack their healer again. Between Arthur and Gideon, he hadn’t been able to find an opening, and it was the same situation now as Gideon harried the Raid leader. As he’d leveled up, Gideon had gained a new skill, which he’d been using since the beginning of the battle.
[Living Stone]: Encase yourself in armor made of rock.
- [North]: Encase yourself in thick, heavy stone. More damage resistance and less mobility. Armor’s defense scales with STR.
- [South]: Encase yourself in thin, light stone. Less damage resistance and more mobility. Armor’s defense scales with DEX.
The armor was a dark, shining obsidian that looked to reflect the dark nebula’s left behind by his attacks. Although it wasn’t as effective as Arthur’s Plate, it allowed Gideon to take one or two blows from the Raid Commander in its North polarity. Whenever he took a hit from the bug man, Ema would heal him immediately. With a dexterity stat now nearly reaching 400 regardless of Ema’s debuffs, these hits were quite often.
Although the Threshen was far faster than him, he was prepared for him to make another run at Ema. A Morningstar mace in the shape of a jagged star was suddenly swinging for the Raid leader’s face, forcing him to retreat. He didn’t get far, however, as he soon found himself scissored by both Arthur and Gideon. Moving to leap out of the way, his muscles suddenly Siezed up, leaving him open to a savage attack. The obsidian armored man’s star speckled swing smashed into the Threshen’s face, snapping off a pincer with a spray of blood. At the same time, the knight crunched his shield against the bug man’s leg, causing a large crack to form at the point of impact. It had quickly become clear that the Threshen’s carapace resisted bladed attacks, but was far more susceptible to blunt damage. It was why Arthur had opted to strike with his shield during the pincer attack.
The Threshen flipped in the air before landing on the ground hard. Before the Arthur and Gideon could capitalize on his disadvantaged state, the Raid leader smashed them both away with a new skill.
As the battle outside their window continued, Camille’s office was soon filled with various assistants from throughout the building. It was well known among her colleagues that Camille had the best view of the area the monster roosted in, as cruel an irony as it was. Her window was quickly crowded, people letting out roars and hollers as the party engaged the boss like they were watching an old world football game. Cheers erupted all around as the two front liners slammed the monster with a joint attack, laying the subject of their bitter ire flat on the grass.
As her peers loudly yelled around her, Camille felt numb. The shock of the moment had her mind felt like it was slogging through syrup until all at once… everything suddenly caught up.
Someone was fighting the boss monster. The boss monster that could summon powerful monsters from its horde.
Camille’s eyes snapped to attention. Walker looked at her, his cigarette still poking from his mouth. “Castillo? What is it?”
All at once, Camille suddenly ran for the door while fighting to get her high heels off of her feet. While the world had ended, the few cosmetic choices still afforded to her were comforting, and still helped her to look more professional. All of that was thrown to the side, however, as she sprinted to the door, nearly tripped, then threw the offending shoes to the side as she ran out with all her might.
“Castillo!?” Walker yelled, running after her.
She had to get to the edge of the city before it was too late... or else everyone in that party would die.