HC: Pacifist | Ch. 204 - Searing Heat

Despite Loki’s fears, Jaw-Long just stood between him and the Slayer, doing nothing. He had expected the old man to join the frontline and make his life miserable, but nothing happened. What was he thinking? Why wasn’t he attacking?

The three frontliners kept hitting Loki, but his hp bar was already recovering back to full despite the first significant attack thrown by Jaw-Long earlier. Before, there was always one of them between him and the Slayer, but now, they didn’t care about this anymore. Could it be that Jaw-Long was here just to protect that brute?

Had that idiot really managed to get the best player in the game to become his bodyguard?! Were they friends or something? The more Loki thought about it, the angrier and more afraid he felt. Why wouldn’t the Slayer just leave him alone? Why did he have to keep ruining his plans? He was a pebble in his shoe that he couldn’t shake off!

He tried to keep himself calm. He couldn’t let Jaw-Long’s presence get to him. He was level 80, for goodness sake! He didn’t have to fear anyone!

Self Immolation!

Now that this skill had come off cooldown, he set himself ablaze again, burning every second any opponent that was too close. In the meantime, one more medic had arrived, capitalizing on Loki’s distraction, and each frontliner had their own dedicated healer now, making the monstrous damage he was dealing them with every second seem too little.

If Jaw-Long had come just to protect the Slayer, he was crucial to the guilds’ hunt. That meant that he had to give it his all in killing him.

Abyssal Bolt!

He threw the powerful attack toward Roth, but Jaw-Long’s eyes just shone a brilliant white, and the bolt abruptly switched directions, twisted at a ninety-degree angle, and completely missed Roth. The old man’s rumored hidden class and his triple-affinity were no joke. Loki waited for another powerful blow from the old man. Instead of counter-attacking, he stood still, waiting for Loki’s next move. Before, when Loki had attacked, one of the frontliners blocked it, but this time, they didn’t even react. That confirmed his suspicions.

They had first sent MountainTop, Ogre, and TurtleShell, who could survive almost anything for a minute, to plant their feet on the door and keep it open for the others. Then, they sent their best healer, Griffin, to keep them alive. As Loki focused more on the Slayer, they sent Jaw-Long, his bodyguard, to protect him. Their priority to keep Roth alive throughout the ordeal was indisputable.

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Loki’s attention was drawn to the slightly higher damage numbers. Ogre. The longer he stayed in battle, the more powerful he became. It was still negligible, but one thing was certain: Time was not on his side. The more time he waited, the more players would arrive and the more powerful some of his opponents would become. This was no time to play around.

Jaw-Long's not taking an active role in attacking him told him that he was mindful of Loki’s power. That was good. It meant that the old man recognized that Loki was stronger right now. He could deal with the old man.

Ten more seconds passed, and he threw a damage skill toward the portal.

One For the Team!

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TurtleShell intercepted the skill, losing half his health, but a green light enveloped him, bringing his hp back to full. An esper came out through the cracks, making Loki swallow dryly. His black cowl covered his face, but he instantly knew who it was. There was an aura of decay and disease around him, which was unmistakable—another very troublesome opponent: Kraken.

The cloaked figure began throwing skills at Loki.

You’ve been afflicted with [Moping Mood].

-10% running speed;

-10% damage reduction;

You’re more vulnerable to debuffs.

You’ve been afflicted with [Song of Sorrow].

-10 to all stats.

You’ve been afflicted with [Snail Pace].

+10% cooldown to all your skills.

As Kraken continued to channel debuff after debuff, Loki’s movements became sluggish, and his damage numbers decreased. He hadn’t imagined that the best debuffer in the game would come, too. But Kraken wasn't done yet. His debuffs weren’t the most troublesome thing about him.

He started grabbing vials from his inventory and throwing them at Loki. Loki tried to swat them out of the air, but the vials twisted in weird angles as if they were homing missiles and landed on him.

You've been afflicted with Cobralite Poison.

Regeneration is halved.

You've been afflicted with Sulphuric Acid.

-0.5% health per second.

This only made him feel the pressing urgency to end this immediately.

The poisons weren't enough to offset his regeneration, but the longer Kraken was in the battle, the more debilitated Loki would become. His first skills didn't require channeling. They were on the weaker side. However, the guild leader of the Krakens was already channeling more powerful debuffs.

In the back of the line, behind Jaw-Long, stood the piece that made all of this happen, and he hated his guts right now: The Slayer. He stood there like a lost puppy as if he had nothing to do with this crisis. Using inspection skills, he'd already determined that the Slayer’s level was 30. All he needed was one good shot, and he would be done.

Looking at his skills, he saw one that couldn't be dodged but had a long cooldown. He needed a slightly long channeling time, but not even Jaw-Long could block it if he could set it off. Roth would die, and their backup and supply line would be cut. All he had to do was to get these three annoying pests off his back.

Psionic Push!

This simple skill, the bread and butter of espers, was designed to create distance between the caster and any melee attackers. Loki's high level, intelligence, and wisdom brought this skill to a new level, and practically everyone was sent flying.

MountainTop dug his shield into the ground, and Ogre, both his swords, allowing them to stay fairly close to Loki. They must have push-back resistance skills. Either way, they were far enough. He began channeling the skill.

Execution Burst!

This skill couldn’t be dodged or blocked. The channeling bar signaled that the skill would take three seconds to set off. He smirked seeing the bar almost full, and imagining the sight of the Slayer collapsing, and then picking the rest of his opponents apart one by one.

War Cry!

Ogre was already in his face again, hacking and slashing, and he tried a skill that would have interrupted channeling skills, but Loki’s resistance held.

Sun Roar!

Thanks to the higher number of players, Ogre had already summoned his troublesome bear, who used its own skill to try to interrupt him. However, thanks to his sky-high wisdom, interrupting channeling skills was considerably difficult.

MountainTop was slightly slower, but his long, heavy, muscular tail glowed, and he hit Loki with its tip. The extra range it provided was barely enough to connect the skill.

Tail Whip!

Thanks to his high resilience, the stun it caused was incredibly short, but it was still enough to cancel the skill.

“MountainTop!” he roared, incensed. He’d been so close to killing off the Slayer.

Nether Beam!

Spectral Spear!

Doom Ray!

He spammed several damage skills on cooldown on MountainTop, but he turned into a diamond statue for a couple of seconds, and all the damage numbers returned null. He shot him again as soon as the damage cancelation skill wore off.

Withering Gale!

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Ground Spikes!

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Griffin threw heals with incredible precision between attacks and kept MountainTop’s health in the green zone. He shot a damage skill toward Griffin, but then MountainTop used a taunt, keeping him focused on him.

Was this what game bosses felt like? He was dancing to the beat of his enemies and couldn’t do anything about it. If only he could kill MountainTop. He was soaking in the most damage, and he and Griffin together were practically unkillable, even to him, who was 30 levels beyond them. No wonder the Griffins were one of the best guilds at killing difficult bosses.

As expected of the legendary unkillable lizard tank. How he coveted having a tank like this in Pegasus. He had tried to poach MountainTop multiple times, but he couldn't be bought no matter how high his offers.

Another ten seconds had passed. Loki threw an [Abyssal Bolt] to where the portal was, but part of the damage was deflected by a barrier erected by Griffin, which barely kept the warrior who emerged from it alive. Loki used the ground spikes next, but the warrior used some damage-negating skill and became immune for a few seconds, preventing Loki from finishing him. It was good that his foes hadn't been able to teleport all at once; otherwise, this would have been much more difficult to manage.

This formation was designed to whittle him down, and he had to pick it apart where it was the most fragile. The key for this whole thing to work was the three front liners interrupting his skills at crucial times. After trying to kill MountainTop and failing, he focused on the weaker link in the chain. He turned toward TurtleShell.

Even though TurtleShell was a well-known tank from the Cerberus Guild, he wasn't on the same level as the other two. Loki had to start dismantling this formation somewhere. The dwarf warrior was the best way to start. Additionally, the medic assigned to him wasn't Griffin, increasing his chances.

Wave of Hatred!

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He sent a wave, whittling down the health of all three around him and putting pressure on the medics. Then, he focused on TurtleShell. He slashed with his claws. Despite being an esper, this dealt a respectable amount due to his high level and stats.

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The attacks landed on TurtleShell with a dry thud. TurtleShell focused on items and stats reducing damage, while MountainTop focused more on skills and cooldown reduction for life-saving skills.

Abyssal Bolt!

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The dwarf’s warrior hit the red with only the tiniest sliver of hp left. He thrust his hand again, but MountainTop taunted him. The system took over his body, preventing him from targeting anything but the lizard tank. Loki was prepared this time, though.

Dark Explosion!

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[Dark Explosion] was his skill with the biggest AoE effect, and since it didn’t require a target, he could keep damaging TurtleShell this way. Medics deployed shields, and Jaw-Long activated another skill to protect the Slayer, but damage managed to clean off the rest of TurtleShell's hp. The dwarf tank dropped a piece of armor.

“If only you could see your faces,” mocked Loki. MountainTop and Ogre had twisted expressions right now. The other tank that had arrived took MountainTop’s place, but Loki quickly finished him off.

He turned toward the medics. With TurtleShell gone, he should be able to finish one of them off now.

Death Ray!

Specter Spear!

Abyssal Bolt!

Loki threw rays and lightning bolts toward the medics, sizzling the air and adding to the smell of ozone in the observatory.

Undying Stand!

Ogre stepped in the way, screaming in rage, becoming unkillable momentarily. This skill prevented berserkers from dying for a few seconds and increased damage based on how much health they were missing. As the skill wore off, a cascade of healing skills fell on him. While the medics focused on helping Ogre survive, Loki shot a few more bolts toward the weakest medic.

Instead of blinking away, the medic erected a mirror barrier which was instantly shattered by Loki's attacks. One more medic down. He took a moment to appreciate the ugly faces of the players left. They were beginning to realize that they weren’t going to leave this place alive.

Another ten seconds had passed, and Loki stared at the place where players were springing from like a hawk. Sometimes, players stepped out of the portal every 10 seconds, but sometimes, they waited a little. These little irregular intervals were messing with his tempo and making it harder for him to predict when they would appear. On the thirteenth second, another player appeared, and Loki sent an attack. The moment when a player was transported was the best time to finish them off.

MountainTop tried to slam his tail again to cancel Loki’s attack, but the stun didn't stick. The newcomer arrived in a blaze of fire and glory. Loki's attacks phased right through him as if his body were made of intangible flames.

“BlueFire,” mumbled Loki gravely—the fire general of the Ogres. Loki's face twisted in an unhappy scowl. This was a player that could deal serious damage. BlueFire positioned himself next to Kraken and began channeling a skill. Loki tried to send attacks his way, but his intangibility skill was still active, and the attacks passed through him without dealing any damage. When BlueFire’s [Intangibility Flame] was active, only cryokinetic skills could deal him any damage, but Loki’s abilities were all connected to his darkness affinity.

Searing Heat!

You’ve been afflicted with [Searing Heat].

Lose one percent health every second for one minute.

The combination of Kraken's poison and BlueFire’s potential damage was enough to finally offset Loki’s hp regeneration. BlueFire and Kraken specialized in hunting high-level bosses with monstrous amounts of hp. From now on, any damage the other players dealt would keep stacking and bringing him lower.

He had multiple life-saving skills to counteract such a predicament, but even so, if more players and medics appeared, this would complicate things. If they played the long game, there was the possibility that they would kill him. He couldn’t have that. It was too soon. He hadn’t yet squeezed all the potential from his privileged position as the Hive King.

MountainTop's hammer swung, and Ogre's swords slashed while Loki studied his next target. Who should he focus on next?

Ch. 203 - Barrier

INDEX

Ch. 205 - How To Keep Yourself Distracted