Chapter 129: Vanishing Slash and Penetrating Shot

“What the hell?” Mel asked in surprise as she stared at Shizu’s clone and Shum, who were talking animatedly to each other. “What did you do?”

“I charmed him,” Shizu said proudly before displaying the description of the spell.

[Charm: Charm a humanoid of the opposite sex into believing that you are their friend. Has increased effectiveness if the target finds you attractive.]

[No Element]

[50 MP cost]

[Instant Cast]

[No Cooldown]

[Duration: Until you attack the charmed individual]

[Requirement to Learn: Mesmer Class or Succubus Race]

“That skill is so broken,” Shelur said before asking. “Are you controlling the clone, or is it some kind of NPC?”

“Right now it’s kind of half and half,” Shizu admitted. “Right now I’m more indicating what I want the clone to do, and Genesis, or I guess Tia, is doing that. According to Elrinira, however, once I get good enough at it and learn to separate a part of my mind, I’ll be able to fully control the clone.”

“Focus, ladies, we’re still in the middle of a battle,” Emberslag reprimanded as she used her shield to block an attack Samblar threw at her.

John, meanwhile, was trying to improve his tanking ability; he wasn’t a fan of how every attack that hit his shield caused tremors to run up his arm, and so he started trying to dodge some of the attacks by sidestepping them or retreating at the last minute.

[Partial block. Damage Taken: 104 by Alas]

[Partial block. Damage Taken: 49 by Ralad]

[Partial block. Damage Taken: 78 by Kan]

[HP: 516>>285]

Unfortunately, however, while he managed to dodge Pem’s dagger and one of the arrows sent by Wegub, he could only block the three remaining attacks, causing Mel to frown as she saw his health drop and ask, “Healing Spirit. What happened? You were blocking them so well before?”

[Healing Received: 100 from Dream Star]

[HP: 285>>385]

“I’m trying to dodge some of their attacks,” John replied. “The constant tremors going up my shield arm are starting to make it numb.”

Mel shot him a look of surprise while asking, “Is now really the best time? Healing Spirit.”

[Healing Received: 100 from Dream Star]

[HP: 385>>485]

“Actually, it’s not really that bad of an idea,” Emberslag replied. “He’s got the situation under control at the moment, and learning to dodge attacks instead of just blocking them all is something every tank should learn. I’m impressed you figured that out so quickly.”

“No one can just stand there and take hits all day without some repercussion, even if you did manage to block them all,” Black Dragoon added in agreement.

“Fine, I get that,” Mel replied. “But is now the best time? I mean, he’s tanking five mobs at once.”

This display repeats the author's NovelPhoenix chapter without permission; reading that chapter supports the writer.

Emberslag was about to respond just as Black Dragoon and Shelur hit Gurak simultaneously, making the orc grunt before he collapsed, and they all received a notification.

[Enemy Gurak Defeated]

[Notice: Player level is more than 1 level lower than the defeated enemy; experience amount increased by 50%]

[Notice: Player is under the effects of dungeon exclusivity rights; enemy kill exp will be doubled.]

[210 exp rewarded]

[Exp: 42/800>>252/800]

[Quest Update]

[Kill White Tiger Bandits: 12/20]

“Yeah, I levelled up, nice,” Shelur said happily, while most of the party replied. “Same.”

“Veterans give so much experience,” Mel said with a happy smile as she healed Emberslag.

“They give ten percent of your current level's needed experience, which is double what a normal mob gives, even before the dungeon bonus we’re receiving,” Black Dragoon replied before adding. “Vincarna, since Ninth Wonder of the Worlds clone is distracting Shum, who do you want us to deal with?”

“Can you handle Alas?” John replied. “All his attacks are hitting way harder than the others.”

“On it,” Black Dragoon replied before turning towards Alas and saying. “Lunging Dragon.”

Black Dragoon leapt over the distance separating the two and stabbed Alas in the ribs mid-cast, causing the bandit to stumble sideways and glare at her as his spell collapsed and Shelur cast. “Corruption.”

Now that Alas was no longer targeting him, John managed to dodge to the side and evade three of the four attacks, while the last one landed at the centre of his shield.

[Perfect block. Damage Taken: 0 by Pem]

“Nice, I think I’m getting the hang of this,” John said as Cosmic Strike came off cooldown, which he used against Pem again.

[Damage Dealt: 24 to Pem]

[MP: 160>>135]

[Cosmic Strike Cooldown: 3 Seconds]

[Class Mission update:]

[Cast Cosmic Strike and damage an enemy 10 times: 7/10]

“Fucking bastard,” Pem cursed before he suddenly swung his dagger at John, who blocked it easily. However, as he did, Pem seemed to vanish, making John’s eyes widen in shock as he cursed. “Where the fuck’d he go?”

“Shit, he’s stealthed; the thief must have the vanishing slash skill,” Shizu cursed as she noticed what happened. “Be careful, Vincarna; he’ll probably try to attack you from behind.”

“Damn it,” John cursed, then asked. “Is there no way to discover his location?”

“You're too low level to see through his stealth, so not unless you have a detection skill,” Shelur replied before Mel suggested. “Hug the wall; that way he won’t be able to attack you from behind.”

“Good idea,” Shelur replied as John did as instructed and backed himself against the kitchen counter, while Mel replied. “Well, I was originally going to play sorcerer, and Sarah warned me about thieves since they’re dangerous to cloth classes.”

“That’s good to know since my mesmer class is a cloth-wearing class,” Shizu replied as she recast Slow on Samblar and Alas.

“You can always try and knock them out of stealth by damaging them,” Black Dragoon suggested before adding. “Try using Temporal Blast on Kan; you might get lucky.”

John nodded before doing as instructed.

[Damage Dealt: 0 to Kan]

[MP: 135>>110]

[Temporal Blast Cooldown: 3 Seconds]

[Class Mission update:]

[Cast Temporal Blast and damage an enemy 10 times: 9/10]

“Shit, no luck and no damage,” John cursed as the notifications popped up in the corner of his vision before he blocked another group of attacks aimed at him by the three hunters.

Kan scowled as John blocked his arrow again, causing him to scowl while knocking another arrow and taking aim. This one, however, looked different to the ones before, as it seemed to have a sharp sheen to it that indicated the use of a skill.

“I’m getting kind of pissed off at you continuously blocking my attacks, you little bastard,” Kan cursed before loosing the arrow while saying, “penetrating shot.”

“VINCARNA DODGE!” Black Dragoon yelled as she heard what Kan said; unfortunately, the warning came too late. Because as John positioned his shield to block the attack and prepared for the inevitable tremor to run up his arm, he instead felt a pain pierce through his arm as a notification that made his eyes widen popped up.

[Damage Taken: 231 by Kan]

[HP: 485>>254]

Mel’s eyes widened in shock as she saw John’s HP bar in the corner of her vision plummet before she quickly healed him while asking, “Healing Spirit. What the fuck happened? His HP dropped by half.”

[Healing Received: 100 from Dream Star]

[HP: 254>>354]

“Fleshnit,” John added quickly while Black Dragoon stabbed at Alas before explaining. “It’s a hunter skill that penetrates shields and armour.”

[HP: 354>>454]

[MP: 110>>90]

“A little warning before the fight started would have been nice,” John remarked as he retrieved another mana potion from his bag and downed it.

[+100 MP]

[MP: 90>>190]

[Minor Mana Potion x 9>>8]

“My bad,” Black Dragoon said apologetically. “I completely forgot that hunters can learn that after completing their second class advancement. I’ve never actually seen it used and wasn’t expecting to face any enemies that could use it here after all.”

“Any idea what the cooldown is?” Mel asked as she healed John again.

[Healing Received: 100 from Dream Star]

[HP: 454>>554]

“If I’m remembering correctly, it’s ten seconds,” Black Dragoon replied just as one of Alas's spells slammed into her chest, making her groan and a fraction of a second before Shelur’s darkness bolt hit Alas, killing him.

[Enemy Alas Defeated]

[Notice: Player level is more than 1 level lower than the defeated enemy; experience amount increased by 50%]

[Notice: Player is under the effects of dungeon exclusivity rights; enemy kill exp will be doubled.]

[210 exp rewarded]

[Exp: 252/800>>462/800]

[Quest Update]

[Kill White Tiger Bandits: 13/20]