Episode 26
Retake, who had kept sending question marks in shock, seemed to have calmed down a little.
We stood facing each other, side by side, as if time had stopped. The one who broke that silence and attacked first was Retake.
[Combat] You took 1,036 damage from Retake’s Waste Miasma.
[Combat] Retake took 1,115 damage from Waste Miasma.
[Combat] Retake removed the Waste Miasma effect with the Vaccine Disposal effect.
[Combat] Retake recovered 1,350 HP with the Vaccine Disposal effect.
With a motion of throwing a vial filled with murky purple liquid onto the floor, purple smoke spread faintly, and both Retake and I were afflicted with the Waste Miasma debuff. After that, this time he took out a small vial filled with transparent liquid and threw it onto the floor, shattering it. They were the medic’s skill motions for <Waste Miasma> and <Vaccine Disposal>.
Taking that as the starting point, we began fighting fiercely as usual, without holding anything back. Thanks to the party members making an utter mess nearby, no one was paying attention to our side.
My status window was packed with all kinds of viruses. Those debuffs weren’t something I could do anything about anyway, so I ignored them and focused only on hitting Retake. Putting up my immunity skill whenever I thought the cooldown for Virus Extraction might be back had practically become a habit by now.
It wouldn’t have been strange for him to make some kind of mistake, flustered by the sudden turn of events in the middle of a mass PvP battle, but he maintained his pace calmly and, every time I used a skill, quickly calculated the skill, its area, range, and so on before dodging.
Watching him slip around, choosing only the exact spots where he wouldn’t be hit by the narrowest margin, made my insides boil. Shouldn’t at least a toe have gotten cut off? Why did that not hit? It felt incredibly unfair, but it was the game’s hit detection, so there was nothing I could do.
Of course, Retake wasn’t the only one dodging just barely outside the range. I also moved sideways just enough that his defensive skill wouldn’t connect when he tried to use it. He was probably seething inside too.
As we got along so well, tormenting each other with movement, our HP had gone down side by side before I knew it. Retake was at 14%, and I was around 30%. I’ll say it again: Retake was a healer, so even with that much of an HP gap, I was absolutely not in an advantageous position.
Still, this time I was lucky. Earlier, when Retake was about to use Virus Extraction, I managed to stun him and cancel the skill, so my HP had a little more breathing room. On top of that, for some reason, the viruses didn’t mutate and obediently disappeared from my status window, reducing Retake’s DoT damage output. It was a very good sign.
[Combat] Retake used Mental Focus, applying the increased casting speed effect.
<Mental Focus> was a conditional skill that could only be used when the Stress debuff was at 1 stack or lower. In exchange for being unable to use non-casting heal skills, it increased Balance (*resistance to status abnormalities such as down and knockback) for 8 seconds and reduced casting time by a whole 4 seconds.
On top of that, during its duration, it temporarily blocked the Stress effect that lowered attack power, defense, and penetration, and no matter what skill was used, no additional Stress debuff would be added. It was an insanely generous skill.
Of course, there was also the penalty of receiving 1 stack of Stress once the duration ended. But considering that instead of getting 1 stack of Stress after two heals, you got 1 stack after seven or eight heals, it was actually a gain.
Retake seemed to be planning to use this skill to restore his HP somehow. I had to stop him from healing with the status abnormality skills I’d saved for when he used this.
The problem was… because the casting time was reduced by a whole 4 seconds, most casting skills turned into instant skills, making it extremely hard to tell what skill he was using.
Retake would be planning to take advantage of that by randomly casting damage skills in between heals, making me waste my skills, and then, once I had no status abnormality skills left, leisurely casting heals to fill his HP back up.
I had to ruin that plan. So, to put what we had to do right now simply… it was that. Dibidibidip.
If I inflicted a status abnormality when Retake used a damage skill, I lost. If I inflicted a status abnormality when Retake used a heal skill, I won. Dibidibidip.
As if he couldn’t afford to waste the duration of Mental Focus, he immediately began casting something.
[Combat] You used the Desperate Sword Energy skill and dealt 3,021 damage to Retake.
[Combat] Retake recovered 10,900 HP with the effect of Healing Formula IX.
Ah, he’s healing from the very start… First attempt failed.
[Combat] You used the Desperate Sword Strike skill and dealt 3,669 damage to Retake.
[Combat] You used the Desperate Fierce Strike skill and dealt 4,073 damage to Retake.
[Combat] Retake’s Research Virus I hit.
Damage skill, no stun. Success.
[Combat] You used the Shediaz: Desperate Strike skill and dealt 9,412 damage to Retake.
[Combat] Retake recovered 6,232 HP with the effect of Forgotten Truth.
Heal skill, no stun. Failure.
[Combat] Retake was hit by the Executor’s Binding skill.
[Combat] Retake is stunned by the Executor’s Binding effect.
[Combat] Retake’s Ancient Wisdom was canceled by the stun effect.
[Combat] You took 3,652 damage from Retake’s damage-over-time effect.
Heal skill, yes stun. Success.
[Combat] Retake was hit by the Execution Preparation skill.
[Combat] Retake is stunned by the Execution Preparation effect.
[Combat] Retake’s Emergency Healing was canceled by the stun effect.
Heal skill, yes stun. Success. He must have expected that I wouldn’t use a combo skill right away.
[Combat] You used the Stated Sin skill and dealt 4,008 damage to Retake.
[Combat] Retake is stunned by the Stated Sin effect.
[Combat] Retake’s Rejuvenation was canceled.
[General] Retake: noq';;
Oh. The gamble I’d thrown out just in case worked. Retake, who had used heal skills three times in a row, apparently hadn’t expected me to put in stuns three times in a row as well, because I saw him say something in chat. I didn’t know what that meant, but I figured it roughly meant he was surprised.
I only enjoyed that reaction for a moment before noticing that Retake had only a tiny bit of HP left. If only the random coefficient rolled high, it was enough HP to finish him in one go. If I missed this chance, I had no stun skills left and would have no choice but to watch Retake recover his HP.
Without delay, I stretched my finger toward the hotkey for a skill with a high coefficient and struck it so hard it made a sound. I prayed that the force with which I pressed the keyboard would be added to the damage.
Please!
[Combat] You used the Contradictory Prayer skill and dealt 7,563 damage to Retake.
[Combat] You defeated Retake with the Contradictory Prayer skill.
[System] You have defeated Jeoba Tribe Commander-in-Chief Retake.
[System] You have acquired 2,910 Fame.
“Hup.”
I covered my mouth with my fist and inhaled sharply.
[Race] Bia Tribe Supreme Commander Honey Bread has defeated Jeoba Tribe Commander-in-Chief Retake.
[Party] Slaughter: Aigoo, boss, thank you for your business~
[Party] Ceylon Tea: Wow, it’s 2.5 million.
[Party] Slaughter: nice nice nice nice nice
[Party] TheySayEveryNicknameIsTaken: Good work~! haha
[Party] Conch Shell: Good work, good work~
[Party] IfYouTellMeToFryJeonIFryIt: gg^^7
The party members, who had annihilated every Jeoba Tribe player nearby, sent congratulations through chat.
Drunk on the feeling of victory, I stood triumphantly in front of Retake. Though he was dead, that lump of light was still Retake, so my wings, the symbol of our pair, were shining beautifully.
[General] Honey Bread: hey hey haha
[General] Honey Bread: I recorded a Divine Knight hidden skill video
[General] Honey Bread: wanna have it?
[General] Honey Bread: a gift ><
This was the victory of capitalism.
* * *
TIP - Players belonging to the Aihtetas faction receive the ranks of soldier/NCO/officer/staff officer/commander/commander-in-chief, while players belonging to the Overawhev faction receive the ranks of soldier/NCO/officer/captain/commander/supreme commander.
* * *
Title: No, seriously; Bia supreme commanders, what is this, giving up the evening war and blowing Incarnation just because you got 2.5 million Amb (*Amber);;
Author: [Bia] SoundOfAMagpieCrying
I’m so fucking jealous...
(25 comments)
- 【Best Comment】 [Bia] Slaughter || Hey, sorry, but 2.5 million is too damn tasty.
└ lolololololololololololololololololololololol 2.5 million, I’m so jealous
└ lolololol bro, seriously, you’re doing this? I’ll forgive you, so share some with me too;
└ [Bia] Slaughter || fuck off
└ lolololololololololololololololololololololol
└ lolololololololol so damn firm
- Huh, where’d you sell it off?
└ Looks like Honey Bread hired them to kill Retake.
└ Huh?? Honey Bread did? Instead of killing him herself?
└ Huh?
└ Huh?
└ Huh?
└ Huh?
└ Stop huh-ing already.
└ [Bia] Ceylon Tea || Huh? ㅇㅅㅇ
└ What’s with this person now lololol
└ Know what you’re talking about before you speak. It came up in race chat that Honey Bread killed Retake.
└ This is correct.
- If it’s 2.5 million, you have to acknowledge it...
- Crazy, throwing away one Incarnation use and making 250,000 won lolololololololololololololol
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