Ruslow the Assassin (2)
A cloaked figure stepped out of a tent in the background. His face was gauzed in a layer of bandages, revealing only his sunken, malignant eyes.
—
[Name: Ruslow the Malicious Assassin (Champion)
Level: 19
HP: 4500/4500
Description: A disbanded member of the dark association, Nocturne.]
—
He was a level 19-- one level higher than the Wargoyle Anomaly!
The eyes of the Assassin narrowed into slits.
"Who dares disturb the members of Nocturne?"
Two Captious Captains remained by his side.
Facebasher couldn't help himself and used Provoke.
"You mean former members, right? Sorry excuses like yourselves are trash even in your organization."
'Oh snap.' His party members thought in accord.
The Assassin's eyes flashed red and returned a shower of curses before signaling his men to attack.
Random loot already littered the entire outpost, but the party had no time to pick up each item. They could only attract the items in their direct vicinity and could only pick up the remaining ones if the battle went well.
As the battle continued to unfold, Facebasher started to grow more and more restless. He wasn't used to fast and agile foes like the Assassin, thus he started to lose HP at a rapid pace.
[-10 HP]
[-15 HP]
[-14 HP]
The damage he received wasn't significant by itself, but once it accumulated from each strike the Assassin delivered with his flashy moves and lethal dagger, the rate of blocking and parrying worsened.
This was mainly because the Assassin's dagger triggered a debuff that lowered his Synchronization rate and Strength.
—
[You've been afflicted by (D-rank) Sap!]
[Vizor Synchronization (immersion) -8%; STR -15%]
—
Since Facebasher's two main stats were STR and DEF, this proved to be a huge hindrance to his total battle prowess. Other than a lowered damage per second (DPS), a lowered STR stat also meant it would be increasingly more difficult to resist additional physical ailments.
Therefore, the situation had become more worrisome as the party's tank. A good defense is a good offense, but the other way around also applied after all!
Then there was the issue of a lowered immersion rate.
Facebasher noticed a sudden diminishment in his usually stable movements. An 8% decrease might not look like much on paper, but even a single percent immersion diminution could unsettle a player's rhythm and gameplay.
This had been proved in the past. Games like Infinity Online also incorporated immersion rate differences. Players would often compare these changes to sports athletes in a predicament.
"Imagine an athlete that is used to lifting 250 kilos (551 pounds) on the squat rack. Now, imagine the same athlete just lost 5% of his total muscle mass. How much would he be able to squat now? 225 kilos? 200 kilos? 150 kilos?"
What became evident was that it was hard to determine how each player was affected by sudden changes to their immersion rates.
With sheer willpower and the occasional healing from Mille, Facebasher held on and staved off the Assassin while the rest of the party cleared out every crook and cranny.
He only had to hold on until the two Elite mobs were cleared— then they could coordinate their strategies to take out Ruslow.
Sightseer currently held the attention of two Captious Captains looking to puncture her into a beehive with their rapier-type swords and swashbuckler guile. Luckily, their cunning was outmatched.
Sightseer swiftly and nimbly evaded most stabs and slashes. Whatever couldn't be avoided with conventional means could be interchanged with skills that made sure no damage whatsoever occurred.
Faint Step only had a 20-second cooldown and thus granted her the option to completely avoid any attack for one second on several occasions.
She also possessed the E-rank Scouter skill, Hare's Stride, that she'd previously used against Evan during their race, which could increase her movement speed by 50% for 10 seconds. Back then, it had completely taken Evan by surprise.
Although, because of the long cooldown, she'd decided now was not the time to trigger its effects.
Sightseer kited the two level 17 Elite thugs with almost the same ease she did normal mobs. The trade-off was that she couldn't run too far off, or else she'd lose their aggro since she didn't possess Provoke like Facebasher.
If the Captains suddenly changed their target and went after Mille instead, Facebasher, and in turn, the whole party would be in grave danger.
Sightseer interchangeably swapped between her bow and dagger depending on the situation. She would equip her dagger once he predicted that the next location was close-quarter combat and switched back her bow when she'd been given space, although shots had more difficulty landing on the agile foes because she was continuously focused on the spacing between her foes.
Meanwhile, Evan finally gave her a mental signal in the party chat.
"Now, Sightseer!"
Sightseer tucked and rolled back, avoiding one of the Captains' assaults. Immediately after, smoldering explosions caught both Captains.
[-94 HP]
[-92 HP]
[-70 HP]
[-71 HP]
It was two of Evan's Unstable Mines!
[-10 HP]
[-8 HP]
The explosions even buffeted Sightseer slightly.
"Oi, that's friendly fire." Sightseer complained.
Evan had miscalculated the explosion radius slightly, partly to the fault of his increasing SPC stat that had extended the area of effect (AoE) by ten or twenty centimeters (4-8 inches).
Luckily, they suffered contrasting damages because the proximity to the mines mattered. Also, only the Captains suffered from Concussions. The question was— for how long?
"Keep'em staggered." Evan instructed.
Evan immediately dialed in his boomerang followed by a few grenades, trying to stun-lock the already Concussed duo.
The boomerang struck first, hitting both Captains with relentless ricochets—
[-18 HP]
[-15 HP]
[-12 HP]
[-10 HP]
—Followed by two grenades targeting the duo's left and right flanks.
[-30 HP]
[-12 HP]
[-29 HP]
[-11 HP]
Evan's goal wasn't to deal the most damage. It was rather to group his targets even tighter together while keeping the Concussion up, making Sightseer's follow-up shots easier.
"Mille, give us a hand and focus down the one I mark with Pinion." Sightseer informed.
She drew her bow once again and fired off a set of Fusillade, triggering a rain of arrows that constantly pelted the area she had targeted.
—
[Name: Captious Captain (Elite)
Level: 17
HP: 205/800]
[Name: Captious Captain (Elite)
Level: 17
HP: 411/800]
—
"Pinion!"
The powered arrow struck the Captain with 205 HP left, restricting his mobility for a few seconds.
[-34 HP]
They had to hurry as no one was certain how fast the Captain's STR would counteract the 2-second Immobilize caused by Pinion.
The rain of arrows started to slowly subside. As the Fusillade ended, Evan's boomerang and Mille's three consecutive Ice bolts struck the pinned-down Captain.
With a sliver of health left, the adventurers finished off the first Captain.
[+120 EXP]
"Dang, we need a name for that stun combo." Evan remarked with a grin.
Now alone, the fight against the last remaining Captain turned the scenario into child's play compared to before.
With the Elites down, taking care of the normal mobs also became a lot easier.
While making sure Facebasher didn't bottom down on HP, the party slowly grinded down all of the remaining Crooks and Scoundrels.
Due to a disadvantage in numbers, no one in the party came out of the mayhem unharmed. Having a Healer in the party with a party healing skill quickly restored everyone's grit and tenacity.
"Everyone, gather behind Face." Mille directed. A two-second preparation for the skill began. "Salus!"
[Mille: +16 HP; +16 HP; +16 HP]
[Midnight: +20 HP; +20 HP; +20 HP]
[Sightseer: +18 HP; +18 HP; 18 +HP]
[Facebasher: +27 HP; +27 HP; +27 HP]
Salus was a percentage-based AoE skill that healed health over time (HoT) for 3 seconds. The downside was that it required a tidy of sum MP to cast.
"Phew. Finally!" Said a relieved Facebasher. "You have no idea how many lethal strikes I've avoided until now! This Soulbound Combat mode is too harsh!"
Facebasher and Sightseer only recently unlocked the new combat mode after encountering their first Anomaly. Not getting his face reconstructed by the Assassin's dagger had required all of his efforts.
[Name: Ruslow the Malicious Assassin (Champion)
Level: 19
HP: 4455/4500]
The frown on everyone's faces was apparent.
"Tch. All this time and he's still basically full health. Have you even landed a single blow, Face?" Mille teased.
"MY MEN!" Ruslow bellowed with pure outrage.
—
[Ruslow the Malicious Assassin has gone into Rage!]
[All stats +15% for 2 minutes!]
—
"Well, shit." A debuffed Facebasher divulged.