“Ow… are you kidding me?! 5,000 points of damage with a single hit?!”
Even though I was in light armor, Cerberus. .h.i.t me way too hard considering that I was in a defensive stance.
I didn’t actually feel any pain, but that much damage was enough to make me wince.
5,000.
Raid bosses in other games have a lot of attack too, but it’s almost as if Dimension Wave’s objective was to kill off players.
In any case, I couldn’t resp.a.w.n, so I had better make sure this was the last time I get hit.
I turned to face Cerberus again.
It would be dangerous if I stayed in this position. Cerberus looked like it was about to attack again.
“Tsugumi! If you’re out of MP, then fall back for now!”
“O-Okay!”
“Sorry, Shouko, but we’ll have to tough it out for the next little while!”
“I understand! Tsugumi…”
“What is it?”
“You were very cool.”
“… shut up.”
Tsugumi muttered out as she withdrew from the frontline.
Well, I’m sure she’s proud of herself too, but I bet she’s embarra.s.sed to be complimented like that by another girl.
“Big bro…”
“Hmm?”
She moved behind a tank with a shield before calling out to me.
Her scythe may be bulky, but her medium armor allowed her to evade and it seems like she didn’t take damage.
“Why did you come save me?”
“Because we need you to deal damage later… or at least that’s my excuse.”
“I thought so.”
“It’s because I’m your older brother, I think.”
I don’t think I’d risk life and limb if it were anyone else—save for the three girls in my party.
It’s not like I’m n.o.ble enough to try to save everyone.
“But Spirits are…”
“Why are you worrying about it? 5,000 is but a bee sting… well, not really, but… I mean, umm, it’s not a lot either?”
I wanted to play it cool, but now that I do some mental math, it really was quite a big blow.
It’s a game. This much is expected.
Grinding isn’t everything and I love just hanging out and chatting with my friends, so that’s not a waste of a time.
But still, especially because I’m a Spirit, I don’t want to throw my life away.
“That’s right! Spirts don’t let their friends die on their watch!”
I know exactly how much it sucks to lose Energy, so that’s why I really don’t want anyone to sacrifice their lives.
We’ve got to aim for the best and beat the status quo.
That’s what it means to be a Spirit!
I blurted that out loud, but surely, that’s a good response.
“Miss Kizuna…”
“Agh.”
As soon as I made my excuses, Yamikage popped out from nowhere.
I bet she witnessed everything. And I mean everything…
Oh, G.o.d. That’s so embarra.s.sing.
“Miss Kizuna… how wonderfully moving art thy words!”
“Huh? Huh…”
I questioned her a second time before I fully comprehended what she had said.
“I wish to offer myself to the party.”
“… okay?”
“Perhaps we could have thy sister join our party.”
What, are you going to use a support skill or something?
There’s lots of different targets for support skills, including self, all, party only, and so on. For example, my Speed Gutting is a self-buff.
“Can we do that, Tsugumi?”
“Yep. Should be possible.”
“Then I’ll send a message over group leader chat to let Roz know.”
There were countless people dedicated to fighting one monster.
There’s no way I could pick Roz out from the crowd, but I can use leader chat to contact him.
‘Roz, I know you’re here! Just wanted to let you know I’m borrowing Tsugumi!’
I shouted out loud and someone shouted back. That’s gotta be him.
Then, I opened up the party menu to invite my little sister.
—You have sent Sheryl an invitation to your party.
“She’s in the party now, Yamikage.”
“Aye, then I shall use my recently acquired skill.”
Yamikage then casted a skill as she tends to do.
It took but a second; much quicker than Drain.
“Energy Converter!”
Greenish white orbs began to flow from Yamikage to Tsugumi once she exclaimed her skill.
Honestly, I was a little weird out seeing her use a skill other than Drain. Tsugumi looked in astonishment at her as well.
“MP recovery?”
“‘tis a skill for all Spirits for transferring Energy to another party member.”
“What, does it heal HP and MP for non-Spirits, then?”
“Aye, verily.”
That’s a pretty handy skill.
But why does only Yamikage have it’s for all Spirits?
From the discussions on skills with Shouko, she’s never mentioned this one. Maybe it’s really hard to unlock.
“So that skill, what are the unlock requirements for it?”
“‘tis to gain more than 1,000,000 Energy.”
“… what did you say?”
That must mean total acc.u.mulated Energy over 1,000,000 from the start of the game.
But even then, it definitely takes time and effort to get there, especially considering that Yamikage loses 3,000 Energy each hour.
I guess she must have gotten used to it before she even met us.
“I don’t know exactly how much Energy it burns but are you okay with it?”
“I have no doubts as I have been moved by your words, Miss Kizuna. Not to mention, I currently have more Energy than I need.”
“… alright, then, please.”
“Aye, aye!”
Yamikage casted Energy Converter again.
It seems like it’ll take at least five times to get Tsugumi back to full MP, but it should get her back to full operating efficacy soon.
After three times, Tsugumi was already itching to get back into the fray.
“That’s good enough! I’mma join the fight!”
“Aye, very well. I can cast it at medium range, so I shall keep at it!”
“Gotcha. Thanks, girl!”
Tsugumi gave Yamikage a big smile before jumped back to face Cerberus.
Shouko had been working extra hard to compensate for the missing Tsugumi.
a.n.a.lyzing its attack pattern, each of Cerberus’ three heads are controlled by different AI since each head attacks a different target.
I’m not 100% sure, but it seems like it saves its fire breath to attack the ranged attackers.
As it tries to spit fire, Shouko attacked its face to mess up the monster’s aim.
Then right after, Cerberus targeted Shouko. Instead of dodging, she aimed squarely for its right arm…
“Wild Dance, the Fourth: White Feather Reversal!”
Shouko caught Cerberus’ attack with her folding fan and activated her skill, dealing a great blow.
… that’s a counter, eh?
You see skills like that in fighting games. You can only activate them when your opponent attacks.
It’s hard to use since you’ve gotta predict the enemy’s attack, but it usually deals quite a lot of damage.
I don’t know how strong Shouko’s was, but I bet it was very powerful too.
“Soul Size!”
Tsugumi joined the battle and attacked all three of the monster’s heads.
Does each head have its own individual health bar?
I’m guessing each head is separate from the torso too. There might be a separate health bar for its arms too.
“d.a.m.n! The boss isn’t focusing on anybody! We’ll fall apart like this!”
It was a tank who shouted out loud.
He has a point. Cerberus was switching between Tsugumi and Shouko, then sometimes it attacked other allies with its flames and tail.
It makes sense why this was happening, but it wasn’t a good situation for our archers and mages.
Archers wear light armor and mages wear robes. Neither have really good defense. We’d be out of luck if they get wiped out by the boss.
It’d be awesome if I could draw hate from just even one of its heads!
“I’ll try to pull aggro from the head that spits fire!”
I whipped out my Rod of Humanoid Timber from my inventory.
Frankly, this isn’t equipment suited for the battlefield.
I moved past the tanks and archers. From a distance, I could see that Shouko and Tsugumi were like acrobats zipping around the boss.
If I moved far enough, maybe it’d look like a circus or something.
I guess that’s just how much better they are than me…
“Looks like the head in the middle is the one that breathes fire…”
d.a.m.n! It moves around too quickly but I have to give it my best shot!
“Hate & Lure!”
A blue light glowed as my sinker bounced off Cerberus’ head.
It looked over my way… except it was really targeting the archers instead.
If it doesn’t work the first time, I just have to try over and over again.
“Hate & Lure!”
I used the skill three times in a row.
Hate is acc.u.mulative, so luring it from range took quite some time.
Whoa! It looks like it’s totally ready to bathe me in flames!
I stepped to the side and away from the archers.
The fire barely managed to toast me for 1,500 points of damage.
I’m glad the other girls can evade so easily, but unfortunately, I couldn’t do acrobatics like they can.
However, the effect was great.
The archers and mages came out completely unscathed, meaning we still had a chance of winning.
Alrighty. Lemme use it once again.
This time, Hate & Lure hit its left arm.
c.r.a.p, it’s swinging right at me.
“Fast Shield!”
“… oh, hey, Roz.”
Roz tanked for me with his shield skill.
Naturally, I was unharmed. It looks like the skill did what it’s supposed to do.
“Kizuna, you keep drawing aggro and I’ll cover you. If it targets you, I’ll be able to melee attack it too.”
A bunch of players drew near with powerful two-handed axes and two-handed swords, all clad in medium armor. It’d be ridiculous to expect everyone to be as acrobatic as Shouko and Tsugumi, I guess.
Oh, and it seems that most taunting attacks are melee skills, making Hate & Lure pretty rare.
The downside is that its damage is absolutely trash.
I think this skill is actually meant for luring fish instead of monsters.
Well, I’ve gotta make do. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
“Gotcha! Now let’s take down the beast with your powerful skills!”
“Leave it to us. Let’s go!”
Arrows, spells, and arms all worked together to take down the boss.
This was the beginning of the end of Dimension Wave.
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