Anomaly (3)
Mille peeked behind Evan's back.
"Is it awake?"
"Not sure. Let's approach slowly."
She started chanting a party buff skill. Due to her E-rank proficiency in the skill, it took a while to cast, but eventually, they gained a couple of pretty solid party buffs.
"Bolstera Physicalis!"
[+3 physical defense!]
[+3 magical defense!]
[+5% movement speed!]
"It will last 3 minutes, and I can only cast it so many times. I'd rather save some mana for healing."
"Noted."
While physical classes relied on high HP, strong defenses or high evasion, Mage and Priest classes would almost always be subpar in these areas. They made up for it by possessing mana as well as focusing on high WIS or high INT which were essential to magical classes.
Wisdom allowed players to store more mana and strengthen their magic defense like many other VR games. High WIS was especially useful in tandem with defensive-use proficiencies such as party buff skills like Bolstera Physicalis or enemy debuffs while it at the same time extended their durations.
Contrarily, Intelligence was the magic damage and magic healing modifier, abling players to dish out strong elemental attacks or heal massive chunks of HP. Like its STR counterpart, INT also added resistance to magical ailments such as Burn, Freeze, or types of curses.
As a Priest Healer, Mille had the ability to naturally restore MP during combat, unlike HP which wouldn't accumulate over time without the use of potions. Of course, that didn't mean she could go into a frenzy and bombard her enemies with Ice Bolts or heal her whole party every time party members were low on HP.
In fact, Evan had been told that if Mille's MP ever went below a 10% threshold, all her other stats would be reduced by 50% for 'a long-ass time', is what she'd said. Even worse was if her MP reached 0. By that time, she would be would enter a state in which she would be incapable of using any actions, called Claimed by Aerth, or 'Claimed my Ass,' as Mille defined it.
She had explained that she was reluctant to fight the wolf pack not only because of her long cast times. In hindsight, Evan could probably have stalled for time. Particularly when she found out that he had such an eclectic class.
She was reluctant mostly because of Claimed by Aerth, since mana potions didn't exist in Soulbound Online, and a dragged-out fight against multiple mobs would definitely deplete her MP.
Against a single boss mob, she felt more assured. Keeping track of her MP was easy as pie, or so she thought.
Sensitive to its surroundings, the anomalous slime soon reacted as the duo neared it. Its previously round body slung out a tendril toward Evan who was the closest target.
Evan side-stepped, narrowly escaping the tendril's constriction attempt.
—
—
"Huh?" The two players let out in unison.
—
—
Both Evan and Mille grew wide-eyed.
"The hell is Soulbound Combat mode?!" Mille exclaimed.
Evan was astounded by the sudden transition. It didn't sound like good news, to say the least. He decided to activate his mind-link for the first time since entering Aerth.
"Ah, Evan. Young man, what can I help you with?" The Amber Guardian nonchalantly asked.
"Hey, Raphael. Quick question. What's Soulbound Combat mode?" Evan asked, still retaining a large chunk of incredulity on his face.
The Guardian became more invested after hearing Evan's doubts.
"Oh my, have you stumbled upon an Anomaly already?" He chuckled. "Alright, listen up."
A new tendril shot out of the stupendously large slime, this time aiming for Evan's head.
Evan tried to evade but the tendril abruptly altered its course and transformed into a sharp spike at once.
The spike grazed his cheek.
[-1 HP]
"Oh snap, you better step back while I explain." Raphael expressed.
Evan dragged a still flustered Mille away from the Anomaly. Luckily, it didn't seem to care to move from its spot.
"As I was saying, now that you've met your first Anomaly, combat has become more – how should I put it – I think lethal is the word."
"How so?"
"Well, during the Tutorial Combat mode, did you notice that no matter where you took damage, the system wouldn't penalize you for it?
"I'm not sure. I've tried not to receive any damage in the first place."
"I see. Then, think of Soulbound Combat mode as a difficulty modifier. You've been playing easy mode all along, but now you've joined the big leagues where most players will eventually end up."
"Okay, but what's the difference from before and this new mode?"
"As a human in your homeworld, what happens when you take an arrow to your knee?"
"I get hurt."
"Hurt where?"
"The knee."
"What if that arrow pierces your head instead?"
"I'd be dead."
A metaphorical light bulb finally lit up over Evan.
"So you're saying-"
"Yes."
"And that means-"
"Yes."
He was slightly annoyed at Raphael's small interruptions but also thankful. Mille would probably get along quite well with Raphael, he thought.
The Guardian chuckled.
"Well. Thanks, Raphael."
"No worries, young man! Before I close the link, let me just tell you that life goes both ways and is unjust – for everyone. With your riddle-solving performance from before, I'm sure you're clever enough to get what I'm saying."
With no more words to spare, Raphael withdrew from Evan's mind.
—
—
Evan's eyes lit up, only to grow dreary after realizing what he and Mille were facing.
"Hey Mille, I just spoke with my Guardian."
"Oh, mine's on cooldown so I couldn't reach her. What did she say?"
"It's a he. Anyway, listen up."
Evan explained what he'd learned and they quickly formulated a new plan to adjust to the sudden changes.
Mille buffed the party for a second time. Though they'd learned that getting struck in fatal areas such as the head or the heart would lead to instant death, the 5% increase to movement speed was much welcomed.
Mille's agility was lower than Evan's, and so was her HP. Thus her role was to simply stay out of the Anomaly's range and distract it with Ice Bolts while making sure she was ready to heal Evan in case his situation became critical.
[-2 HP]
[-1 HP]
[-2 HP]
Sadly, her Ice Bolts didn't do much damage and couldn't be spammed with a high spellcasting rate due to slow mana renewal.
Knowing how dangerous a single moment of blunder could be, Evan had to spend most of his time focused on dodging each of the slime's ever-changing tendrils.
Each time he saw an opening, he would aim his boomerang at the Anomaly. Most of the time, new tendrils would form, perfectly deflecting the first attack as well as the follow-up ricochets.
Fortunately, as time trickled down, the slime's tendrils became more sluggish. Mille's Ice Bolts were finally taking effect!
That's when Evan's boomerang attacks finally started to land.
[-4 HP]
[-2 HP]
[Blocked!]
As the boomerang continued to slice up the Anomaly, small chunks of blobs fell off to the ground.
"Hey, isn't it smaller than before?" Mille scrutinized.
While Evan wasn't able to reply due to his precarious circumstances, it was definitely good news.
What was bad news was that the small blobs had slowly become their own living entities.
The blobs slowly formed an outer barricade around their creator, mother or whatever that thing really was. This in turn prevented the short reach of Evan's boomerang from efficiently striking the slime breeder.
Evan cursed.
"Change of strategy. Mille, can you kite these small fries away?"
"Sure, but we can't let them keep spawning. This room is getting stuffed."
She was right. More than half of the jagged boss room was filled with slimes from levels 1 to 3. The floor was bumpy, making it difficult to maneuver. And considering the Anomaly's tendril reach, Evan and Mille started to lose more and more ground.
"Just make sure to kite as many as possible. But don't overdo it. We still need your Frost Bolts!"
"Fine," Mille said with dismay.
It wasn't as if she had a better plan.
Soon, Unstable Mines started to explode across the boss room one at a time.