Bab 16: CHAPTER 16
"Your poor little eyes will be okay with that?!" Ronin sharply responded. "What, you think we're some kind of experiment? And what can you do?"
"He jumped 23 levels in a couple days," I answered.
"You took what, three weeks to go that far?"
"Shut your mouth," Ronin snarled at me. "I still haven't figured out how a Level 6 wimp like you got in with the volunteers."
"Excuse me, but that has nothing to do with us," Eilinn's voice chimed in. "I'd also like to mention that the group has five hours for the raid. The more time you waste now, the less experience you'll get later."
"Everyone be quiet!" barked Max. "I'm the group leader, and I'll make the decisions. Right now, we're going to kill five skeletons, after which, I'll split everyone up into squads of three... And you'll tag along with one of them as a fourth." He cast a quick glance in my direction.
"Here's the formation," ordered Max. "I'm in front with Ronin and Fladr." The dwarf nodded, the barbarian grimaced. "We'll get the skeletons to attack us while the hunters shoot them down. Besides me, we have three hunters." Two elves and a human also nodded.
"Flosi and you, Liutix, guard the hunters in case someone goes after them. Make sure they target you."
"But I'm a thief!" Liutix said indignantly while the big paladin quietly received his orders.
"So? I'm an archer, but I'll be on the front lines, too," Max said. "If it gets to be too much, we'll rotate until the hunters finish them off. Just don't go too far, or you'll attract new ones."
"And who," the leader looked at the mage, "can heal?"
The mage, whose name was Rodriquez (a real-looking one, with a beard and staff, though the staff was obviously much simpler than Eilinn's), gravely nodded.
"Stay close to me, and I'll tell you who to heal if it comes to that. Well, and keep an eye out yourself. Can anyone do any buffing."
"I can do protection against the elements," Rodriguez's deep voice boomed.
"Can't—hurt go for it."
The mage twirled his staff, shouting something in a language I didn't know, and I saw that we now had a five percent protection against air, fire, and water damage.
"And you," Max looked at me and exhaled, "stay in the back."
Well, obviously. Where was I going to go with my attributes? One blow from a Level 20 skeleton, and I'd be a memory up there next to the stone on the hill...in my underwear.
"We'll kill five skeletons and fall back to the hill," our leader said before we set off. At the front of the procession, our two swordsmen flanked our commander; several steps behind them were the three hunters with arrows strung and ready; behind them, were Liutix with his dagger at the ready and the paladin, then me; and bringing up the rear was our gray-bearded mage.
About fifteen steps in front of the trio, the ground started expanding almost immediately, with one spot even closer. It grew and grew until skeletons started to climb out. They were straight out of a fantasy novel, waving and shaking rusty swords and shields, rattling bones, clinking chainmail. In the deep eye sockets set in their yellow skulls, burned small red fires. One after another, the bubbles of earth popped, with each...I don't know, pop or explosion….yielding three skeletons. Our plan to take out five targets was discarded before it ever began, and the skeletons hopped toward us out of their craters. The whole scene was especially eerie given the dead (what else?) silence surrounding it all. We were all quiet, watching events unfold. It isn't every day that you have skeletons running at you. As far as I know, not even 10 percent of the people in Elysium had come across the undead. The veterans, on the other hand, were quiet because it was something they'd seen many times. The skeletons were quiet, of course, because they didn't have anything to speak with.
Max reacted first, sinking an arrow into a skeleton running at him—and it was a good hit, immediately taking out half the skeleton's health (not his life—what kind of life can a dead skeleton have?). The skeleton then took a slash from Fladr's sword and a cut from Ronin's steel, at which point I received a message:
You unlocked Strength of the Strong, Level 1.
To get it, destroy nine more enemies that are 10 levels or more above you.
Reward:
Daredevil, a passive ability, Level 1: +0.3% to the damage you do with all weapon types
Title: Fearless Strongman
To see similar messages, go to the Action section of the attribute window.
Before I had time to say "wow," I got another one:
You unlocked Death of Bones, Level 1.
To get it, destroy another 49 warrior skeletons.
Reward:
Mental Fortitude, a passive attribute, Level 1: +0.7% to your mental strength against grave horrors
0.2% defence against poisons
To see similar messages, go to the Action section of the attribute window.
Everyone else got the message about all the bones and stuff as well, and that tripped up the group. The skeletons used that against us, and our front line began taking hits. The first two skeletons started smacking them in the head, but that was only part of the problem. Right behind those two, were six more.
"Hunters, fire!" Max's cry rang out. "Rodriguez, heal us! Flosi, get over here! Leyton, Liutix—to the left and right flanks. If you're attacked, get them to target someone else and run for the hill, so you don't trigger more of them!"
I dashed to my left as the archers fired and scanned the area to make sure we wouldn't be outflanked. Meanwhile, things were hopping at the front of our group. Max's command couldn't have come at a better time, as it shook the archers out of their stupor. They quickly took out two of the first three skeletons and heavily damaged the second trio, making them easy pickings for the three swords of our tanks.
When the first fell, 1 levelled-up.
"Archers, switch to the next three!" shouted Max as he himself fired at the far group. As he continued loosing arrows, he stepped back, covered by our swordsmen. "Rodriguez, heal the tanks!"
The three hunters also turned their fire on the far target. The strategy was a good one: only two got to the swordsmen, and they didn't last five seconds against their three swords.
"Fall back," commanded the leader once all the skeletons were piles of bones on the ground."
"What about stripping them?" asked the archer named Kerv, who until then had been quiet.
"Flosi," said Max, nodding to the piles of bones.
Collecting trophies didn't turn out to be that hard.
You just reached your hand out to your opponent's remains and everything he had turned up in your backpack.
In our case, sure, every time, the question popped up, "Do you need this item?" And you took a second to think before replying.
This time, none of the nine skeletons yielded anything interesting—just bones, shards of rusted swords, and a few grave centipedes. A bunch of crap... Although somebody decided they needed it.
Who could possibly have taken it all?
"All right, we need a new strategy. We won't split into groups of three," announced Max. "They'll overpower us since they're in trios, too. Swordsmen, you'll be in the front taking the skeletons on in the center. I'll be right behind you, also working in the center, with the three other hunters working the left and right flanks. You two," he said to Liutix and me, "watch the flanks. If the hunters are threatened, you know what to do. Rodriguez, focus on healing the tanks. Move out!"
And that's how it went. The next nine skeletons were a piece of cake. The archers spread out to the point that only every third skeleton made it to the swordsmen at all, and even their health was in the red. You could almost hear them creaking out something like "Ah, you got me, you living scum," as they crumbled into heaps of tiny bones before Flosi's sword could cleave into them.
I was quite happy with how things were going, as I levelled-up three more times and got another message:
You unlocked Strength of the Strong, Level 2.
To get it, destroy 19 more enemies that are 10 levels or more above you.
Reward:
Daredevil, a passive ability, Level 2: +0.6% to the damage you do with all weapon types
Worthy Reward, a passive ability: +2% chance of finding rare items on defeated enemies
To see similar messages, go to the Action section of the attribute window.
I was especially happy about Worthy Reward since I was sure I'd get the ability. I had just gotten to Level 10, and the skeletons were all Levels 28-30, so I had another ten levels to go. That would be enough time to take out 19 skeletons, right?
"Liutix, Leyton, make sure you watch our back. They respawn every four minutes, so we need to make sure they don't come at us from back there. And keep checking the flanks." Our commander was comfortable in his role, and there was a new steel to his voice.
His instructions were well-timed. I looked over my shoulder, then glanced to my left...and my eyes opened wide. Forty strides away, an enormous skeleton came out of the picturesque ruins. He wore a helmet and had fireballs for eyes.
~ ~ ~
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone