Ferocious ants (II)

Suddenly Watchful Eye appeared next to Silver Blade. He swung his staff fiercely, crashing it into one of the ants' back.

[-488!]

As a monk Watchful Eye's damage was somewhat weaker. To compensate this, however, he had increased attack speed. Compared to the 0,7 attacks per second which most swords had, a monk's staff could attack 1,1 times per second.

Interweaving attacks and skills monks could deal substantial damage in a short time.

Watchful Eye proved this by immediately following up with [Purple Earthly Flame]. With a hiss the staff got engulfed by a purple fire. He swung it sideways, dealing another blow to the ant.

[-868!]

Monks were master manipulators of QI. This special resource replaced mana and fury. The more QI a monk had left, the more damage they dealt, making them heavy hitters at the start of the battle.

Receiving so many fierce attacks, the common ant couldn't endure anymore. The purple flame crept along its body, immediately turning it into ashes.

"Good job!"

"One down, five to go!"

The party members congratulated each other. But the ants didn't stop their assault.

Angrily snapping its mandibles, the Maritim Ferocious Ant Vanguard dashed at Final Fend again. A chain blade aimed for its head.

[-157!]

It hit the ant heavily, but the stagger effect didn't trigger this time. Without slowing down the elite was about to slam into Final Fend.

"Careful!"

Silver Blade couldn't help but warn her brother. However, Final Fend didn't play just since yesterday. With a jerk of his wrist, his weapon suddenly looped around his arm.

At the last second he took a stable posture taught with the Winding Dragon Technique and blocked the elite with his arm.

[Stance -21]

A strong force rushed through his body. This time it was him who staggered backwards.

"Fend, can you hold on?"

"Don't worry, I will buy you time!"

Despite losing a third of his stance, Final Fend wasn't worried. He was confident in his own class.

"Look at this!"

The young man exclaimed loudly, earning him an eyeroll from his sister. But he was too focused on the enemy to notice.

With a thought his skill [Chain Lock] activated. He swung his arm in a leisurly way. The chainblade loosened again. It snaked through the air.

The elite ant seemed wary, watching the next attack. But surprisingly the chainblade missed. The ant almost looked confused.

But suddenly the weapon returned. It drew a curve around the opponent's body, instantly tying it up.

The ant panicked, throwing its body left and right but the chain was unstoppable, forming a tight prison.

Even the elite couldn't escape immediately.

Silver Blade was pleasantly surprised:

"Good job! How long can you stun it?"

Final Fend thought for a moment. His skill was able to stun for a maximum of five seconds. Considering the elite's resistance and Final Fend's bonus on control which came with his race he came up with a rough estimate:

"A bit more than three seconds I guess."

"Nice. Enough for us to get rid of those annoying insects!"

Listening to the conversation, everyone knew their jobs. But before they could attack Silver Blade first had to endure another assault.

Four impacts shook her body heavily.

[Stance -16]x2

[Stance -9]x2

Silver Blade drew a sharp breath, glancing at her status as her stance was reduce to a single point.

"Let's get rid of those melees first!", shouted Silver Blade, knowing that those posed the greatest threat to her.

The others complied, raining down attacks and skills.

Braag's bomb launcher began to glow red from heat. A jerk ran through his body as three bombs left the muzzle.

Explosions rocked the earth, splashing sand all around. Silver Blade even had to lower her head.

[-432!]

[-259!]

[-201!]

The bombs dealt a large amount of damage to its main target, but the other ant wasn't coming out unscathed as well.

The situation was still chaotic when a blade flashed silently, cutting into the ant's throat. Instantly followed by a normal attack.

[-1814!!!]

[-694!]

For a moment even Bloody Edge was shocked as his [Cut Throat] landed a critical hit, dealing massive damage. His next attack followed almost by instinct, ending the ant's life.

He quickly snapped back, letting out a cold line he deemed fit for the moment:

"What an honor to die under my blade."

Further away Forune nodded happily, getting another great shot for her video.

With his initial target on the floor Watchful Eye had to change the trajectory of his staff, skillfully slamming it into the other opponent's flank.

[-488!]

But this wasn't all. A strong energy suddenly ran through his staff, erupting at its tip. A large amount of QI slammed into the ant's body.

The large insect couldn't remain on its feet. The heavy push threw it through the air. Watchful Eye proved his aim as the ant slammed into one of its ranged companions.

[-715!]

[-280!]

[-280!]

The collision dealt some damage to both ants.

"You could do that?"

The others stared at Watchful Eye in surprise. But Brag saw his chance at this moment. He didn't delay, pressing his hand on a special stone at the side of his weapon.

He watched with tears in his eyes as money vanished form his inventory. This was the effect of his unique passive [Money can buy everything], which allowed Braag to boost his damage by spending money.

At a rate of 25% of damage for one fourth of his current level in silver coins, Braag instantly lost 20 silver to double his next attack.

"Die, you stupid insect!"

Helplessly diverting his anger towards the enemies, he used his next skill.

The bomb launcher in his hands suddenly bulged. It looked weird, like a snake having eaten a big mouse. A sphere was slowly pushed through the pipe. Shortly before it reached the end, it finally sped up.

The party members looked towards the sky where a large black ball sailed through the air. With a pulsing surface it spelled danger for anyone daring to stand in its way.

The bomb appeared to move incredibly slow, but it reached its target nevertheless.

Bloody Edge gulped when the bomb was only a hair's breath away from the three ants in the distance.

Boom!

A deafening explosion washed over the party. Flames reached towards the sky. Braag's bomb indiscriminately dealt damage in a large area.

[-1212!]

[-1550!]

The already injured ant stood no chance. It's HP emptied out immediately. When the dust and smoke cleared up only a single leg remained behind.TheThe

At the same time the two caster ants didn't look much better. The single skill almost killed them in one hit.

Fortune turned towards the dwarf next to her in disbelief.

"Damn, how did you do this?"

Seeing the gorgeous woman reacting so strongly, Braag felt much better about all the money he spent.

"It's just my passive. I can explain later."

"Great! And if you can repeat this, please do! This is perfect for my video!"

"Of course, of course!"

Fortune saw Braag in a new light. Since she herself choose a class with large-scale, destructive spells to create spectacular scene for her video, she was more than happy that Braag could cause similar scenes.

While the content creator was happily imagining all the possibilities, she suddenly felt something. Her staff lit up brightly as her [Arcane Bolts] skill was finally ready.

Looking at the devastated enemies, she hastily consulted with Silver Blade:

"Silver, should I attack the elite?"

"Yes!"

Immediately Fortune focused on the large ant vanguard. Her mind fell calm, all distracting thoughts pushed aside. She took a deep breath.

Swinging her staff bolts of arcane magic erupted one after another.

Small magical explosions shook the ant's body as the bolts slammed against its sturdy, black carapace and its scaly fins.

[-763!]x4

Fortune wiped the sweat from her forehead. Controlling the arcane bolts took quite a lot from her. Only after the skill ended did she notice the strange silence in the air.

Swiping her eyes Fortune was hit with disbelieving faces. The first to find his voice was Final Fend:

"Damn, you almost one-shot that elite!"

"Fortune, that was awesome!", agreed Balm with admiration in her eyes.

The others also voiced their agreement. Fortune felt somewhat embarrassed. She was used to being praised.

"Wow you are so gorgeous!"

"You are a goddess on earth!"

"You figure is perfect!"

Fortune had grown numb to such flattery long ago. It was different now that her new friends were genuinely impressed by her skills.

With an almost shy smile, Fortune answered joyfully:

"Thanks guys. I trained a lot and finally brought my arcane bolt to rank two!"

Silver Blade was shocked by the revelation. This meant that Fortune was the first out of their group to upgrade a skill other than Liam.

And it was not just any skill, but a magical one.

It hasn't been that long since Liam explained his theory on how to improve magical skills. The party discussed it among themselves. With experienced martial artists they were able to figure out more about mana pathways and meridians.

However, their current understanding was far from perfect. Thus, Fortune's success was nothing less than incredible.