The third wave of the event Protectors of Amaharpe went by without anything major transpiring. If there was one noticeable difference, it was that Blue Oasis' sector had numerous players that left their area. It happened while the third wave was in progress so that their movements would go mostly unnoticed.
However, this shift was perceived by Niflheim, one of the seven captains of Blue Oasis. After being informed of the withdrawal, Niflheim speculated that there was a good chance they pulled back due to their plans being discovered.
"Strange..." Wang Qiang furrowed his brows as he received the report of the movements going on within Blue Oasis' sector. His first thoughts were similar to Niflheim's, however, he felt that there was another reason as to why this was so.
"What is it, Wang Qiang? You appear troubled." The player who spoke stood next to Wang Qiang. It was a male with a magnificent long spear on his back. He wore fully plated armor that was silver in color with white markings positioned in certain locations. He possessed short black hair that was slicked back, light green eyes and was quite handsome in appearance.
He was a bit shorter than Wang Qiang, but he was by no means any weaker. He was one of the Five Great Generals of Cross Haven, Zhang Jie.
"Zhang Jie, tell me something. If you found that your plans had been discovered by your target before you took action, what would be your next move?" Wang Qiang gazed into the distance towards a certain direction located in front of Amaharpe's walls.
"That's a little too broad of a question. There are too many unknown variables." Zhang Jie responded.
"Don't think too much on the variables. Just look at it from a common standpoint." Wang Qiang insisted.
"A common standpoint? That's simple then. If my plans were discovered then I would call them off. Though if possible, I would try to salvage the situation." Zhang Jie answered.
"Precisely. Now, what would you do if you had someone similar in strength to your target assisting you?" Wang Qiang continued to question Zhang Jie.
"Well now, that changes things. Even if my plans were discovered, I would execute them regardless. However, I would adjust the timing of my execution of said plans." Zhang Jie said.
Wang Qiang nodded. "So then tell me, why would someone back out at the last moment if they had such a trump card hidden up their sleeve?"
Zhang Jie furrowed his brows at that question. He supposed that if someone was being overly cautious, it would cause them to back out. However, there was such a thing as being too cautious as it could cause one to miss a prime opportunity. However, something suddenly occurred to him.
"Misdirection..." Zhang Jie said without realizing it.
Wang Qiang grinned, "Correct. However, I don't think it's that simple. Whoever is behind this knows quite a bit about strategizing. Their strategy reminds me of fish in disturbed waters."
Zhang Jie suddenly realized something else, "Feigning an attack in the east, and attack in the west...!" Zhang Jie was startled. If what Wang Qiang speculated was true, then whoever was behind all of this was an incredibly skilled strategist!
"If such an enemy truly does exist, then this event will not be so simple. I'll have to inform the leader of this. If things go according to that person's plans, then Cross Haven may be pulled into this confrontation. In fact, it's likely that none of the top guilds will be able to sit on the sidelines. Though the question remains... Who is the anomaly?" Wang Qiang said in a serious tone of voice.
Zhang Jie was silent when he heard Wang Qiang's words. A part of him hoped that Wang Qiang was wrong and it stayed as just a random guess. However, he knew that the chances of Wang Qiang being wrong was highly unlikely.
...
"What's your progress so far, Menerva?" Vault asked of a figure hiding in the shadows. It was difficult to make out anything regarding their specific features, however, one could tell that the figure was without a doubt, a woman.
"Just a minor hiccup. I have already prepared a contingency plan in case something like this happened. Do not worry, it will be successful." The one called Menerva replied.
"This entire plan was your idea so it had better work properly. I hope you remember our agreement." Vault spoke in a tone that was ice cold.
Menerva was quiet at first, however, she soon responded with a simple, "Understood...". If one could see her eyes at that moment, they would notice the flash of regret that appeared within them. But surfaced above that regret was something much stronger. It was the look of extreme determination.
...
Back within the Chaotic Dogma Realm, Izroth and his party were currently on their way to the mysterious structure in the distance. Luckily, they had not come across any additional illusions ever since they left from that temple in ruins.
At the moment, the group was discussing the new trait they received from the stone tablets, Soul Essence.
"The Soul Weakness part of the trait is a little vague. It does not give a specific amount when it comes to being drained too rapidly or dropping below a certain point. I would consider that as some need to know information." Zi Yi said in a slightly frustrated manner.
"There is a chance that the values differ for everyone who obtains the trait. That would explain why there is not an exact number listed for neither of the parts. It may be something that we have to discover for ourselves and through our very own experiences." Luna gave her own opinion.
"It's a little frustrating considering the consequences of overusing Soul Essence. A seventy-five percent reduction to all stats for five hours is quite severe. Not only do we lose a lot of precious time, but if we're in the middle of a battle that could be devastating." Zi Yi stated.
"That is why it will be important to not move too fast when it comes to adjusting to the usage of this new trait. To be on the safe side, we should try not to exert more than ten percent of our total Soul Essence at one time. Also, we should avoid dropping below the fifty percent mark overall." Izroth said.
"It's a shame that the Soul Weakness is a part of the trait. Otherwise, wouldn't it be like a superhero's finisher move if you could pour all of your power into one attack for an ultimate strike?" Guan Yu spoke in an excited manner.
"Oh! I was just thinking the same thing, brother! What kid did not want to have their own superhero finisher move growing up? Ahahaha!" Halls said.
Zi Yi shook her head in response to Guan Yu and Halls superhero statement. She then turned her focus back to the conversation at hand.
"Although it's unlikely that the threshold will be fifty percent, it is better to be safe rather than sorry. Even more so since we are currently within a place that does not allow for many errors to be made." Zi Yi ultimately agreed with Izroth's assessment.
Luna also gave a nod to show her agreement. Needless to say, the others would obviously go along with that recommendation as well.
"Hm?" Valentine halted his footsteps as he noticed something strange taking place within the surrounding atmosphere. It was hard to tell at first, however, after he observed a bit further, he discovered something quite peculiar.
When Zi Yi noticed that Valentine had stopped walking along with them she paused and asked, "What is it?"
Everyone else also halted their steps after both Valentine and Zi Yi did.
"I- Hm..." Valentine wanted to explain, but it was difficult to do so. To him, it did not make any sense whatsoever. It was something he was incredibly unfamiliar with. However, if Mariposa was here then she would realize what was going on at first glance.
"When did you become so timid? Are you going to speak or not?" Zi Yi frowned. Usually, Valentine acted in a completely different way. But, ever since they entered into the Chaotic Dogma Realm, he had been preoccupied with the abundance of unknown magic around him. It had caused him to become a little less outspoken and more focused.
"It may be nothing, but there are specks of what appears to be black dust spreading throughout the atmosphere. It doesn't appear to be from any source and there is a good chance that it is just a normal occurrence within this specific Chaotic Dogma Realm, however, I'm having a hard time separating the magic sequences in our surroundings." Valentine said.
'Black dust? I wonder if it has something to do with this strange interference I'm sensing.'
When they had first started their journey towards the structure in the distance, Izroth felt a strange sensation that was similar to a type of perception interference skill. It was as if within certain parts of his surroundings there were small holes of nothingness even though there was something in its place.
"Are these specks harmful?" Izroth asked.
Valentine studied the specks, however, he came up empty-handed. "I cannot tell. But for now, it does not seem to have any direct effect on how we function. Therefore, it can be considered harmless. At least, for the moment." He answered honestly.
"Then, we'll continue on our way. If they do pose a threat, it's just a bridge we will have to cross when we come to it." Izroth said as he began to move once more. Everyone moved along with him.
After walking for around five minutes, Izroth and his party came across a creature made entirely out of some type of metallic alloy. It had no eyes, no mouth, and no ears. It was over three meters tall, a little bulky, and had four arms.
"What luck...!" Halls was shocked and excited at the same time by their good fortune. They had just obtained an amazing trait and now they were presented with this fortunate encounter.
'Running into this type of monster here was unexpected.'
Name: Silverline Entity(Rare Boss)
Level: 25
HP: 180,000 (100%)
"What a scary amount of HP...! But that only makes things more interesting." Guan Yu said taken aback, yet fired up at the same time. He understood that creatures within the Chaotic Dogma Realm were naturally stronger than those outside, however, the bosses were even more exaggerated than the elite NPCs in this place.
"But, is it worth it?" Zi Yi asked, which surprised everyone except for Izroth and Luna who appeared to be contemplating those exact same words.
"Is it worth it? That's a rare boss! It may be a little risky fighting it, but since when are we afraid of a good fight?" Halls said with confidence.
Guan Yu agreed with Halls' statement. Why would they give up a free rare boss?
Zi Yi let out a long sigh as she then explained, "If we waste our time fighting against this boss when we've already lost so much time being trapped within those illusions, then we may lose sight of our true goal. This place is filled with many treasures, but all the treasures in the world become pointless if we never get the chance to use them."
Zi Yi continued, "In other words, these treasures are a double-edged sword. On one hand, they allow us to become stronger. However, on the other hand, the treasures also work as a way to distract us from our main purpose, and that is to reach the end of this place. After all, if every team becomes preoccupied with finding loot and forgets about the goal, then none of us will manage to walk away with anything we have gained."
Halls and Guan Yu were startled by Zi Yi's words. They had not thought about it that way. Indeed, if they became so obsessed with acquiring loot then there was a high chance that they would only be able to enjoy it up until the Chaotic Dogma Realm closed. If that happened, then only regret awaited them.
Everyone looked at Izroth as if awaiting his decision.
'To fight or not to fight.'
Izroth narrowed his eyes as he stared at the Silverline Entity. He had made his decision in an instant.
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'Is there even a need to truly think about it? Of course, we'll fight.'
"We can assume that the other teams are running into similar issues as ours or at least some type of impediment. I doubt they would pass up the opportunities that present themselves in the Chaotic Dogma Realm. Therefore, we also should not be afraid of facing what's in front of us. We will fight." Izroth said without hesitation.
Since Izroth had decided, none of them would question his choice. Besides, he was correct that other teams may have experienced more vicious situations than their own. There was also a part of them that was incredibly reluctant at having to give up a rare boss that appeared right before them.
"This creature looks bizarre. It looks more like a weapon than a monster." Zi Yi frowned at the strange appearance of the Silverline Entity. The fact that it had no recognizable facial features creeped her out for some reason.
"It looks pretty harmless to me." Even though Guan Yu said those words, that did not mean he would underestimate the Silverline Entity. After all, it wasn't just a rare boss, but it was also a monster that resided within the Chaotic Dogma Realm. It may appear harmless at first glance, but it was definitely not weak.
Izroth unsheathed his Blade of Lightning. When he did so, everyone else also drew their weapons and prepared for battle against the Silverline Entity. Halls was the first to make a move and steadily closed the distance between himself and the Silverline Entity.
30 meters...
20 meters...
10 meters...
5 meters...
This was strange, very strange. Usually, a boss monster had a very large aggro range. However, Halls was less than five meters away and yet the Silverline Entity did not react to him. It completely ignored him as if he did not exist.
Halls turned to look back at the others with a confused look on his face. Could it be that this was actually a boss monster that would not attack unless provoked? Or maybe it did not know that they were there since it possessed no eyes or ears that could be seen.
Izroth gave Halls a slight nod, signaling for him to proceed.
Halls looked back towards the Silverline Entity and charged forward, quickly closing the five meters gap. He slashed out with his sword and aimed right towards the Silverline Entity's chest area. While his attack was in motion, he activated the skill Taunting Aura in order to build further aggro onto himself.
Ding!
-268
A loud clinging sound rung out as Halls' sword made contact with the Silverline Entity. However, the Silverline Entity simply turned its head as if it would be staring at Halls if it had eyes of its own. To everyone's surprise, it did not retaliate and just stood there motionless.
'Would the system really make such an easy rare boss to defeat?'
Everyone else was having similar thoughts to Izroth's. They were suspicious and had certain doubts, but they still decided to continue on with the fight, if it could still even be called that at this point.
"Stay alert and remain cautious of any sudden changes." Izroth directed as he dashed in the direction of the Silverline Entity.
He swept his Blade of Lighting right across the neck of the Silverline Entity.
-378
Even after it was struck by Izroth's attack, the Silverline Entity continued to stand there with its "gaze" locked into Halls.
'Hm... A strange creature. It does not react to any of our attacks and appears to possess zero intelligence or any obvious weak points. Its defenses are also quite pitiful.'
No matter how Izroth looked at this monster, it was more like some fodder beginner monster rather than a rare boss.
Guan Yu, Zi Yi, and Valentine joined in on the attack. Soon enough, the group managed to drop the Silverline Entity's HP down to 90% with their assault. When its HP reached the 90% mark, the Silverline Entity made its first move.
Everyone noticed this and immediately went on high alert. It had finally reacted after all this time and its first move was directed at Halls. One of the Silverline Entity's arms became a formless silver liquid. A few moments later, it slowly began to take shape and formed into a guandao. Its appearance was similar to Guan Yu's guandao, however, there were some discreet differences between the two.
The Silverline Entity swung its guandao shaped arm outward in an arc directly at Halls.
Even though the sudden attack startled him, Halls remained vigilant this entire time and so he reacted swiftly. He used his skill Rebound to block the incoming attack and to try to interrupt the Silverline Entity's movements.
Swoosh!
The Silverline Entity's guandao cut through Halls cleanly as if there was nothing there at all.
When Guan Yu saw that skill he was a bit shocked. He was not the only one who was surprised, Izroth also recognized that move the Silverline Entity just performed. However, it could just be a coincidence and the moves just bore some resemblance to one another. Therefore, they did not think much of it but still kept it in the back of their minds.
«Blocked»
-1,696
Everyone was alarmed by the amount of damage the Silverline Entity just dealt. Even though Halls had successfully blocked the attack, he still took such a massive amount of damage! If any of them were hit by that, there was a good chance that they would die in one or two strikes alone.
However, thanks to how powerful the attack was, the Silverline Entity was knocked back more than ten meters. This gave Luna enough time to cast a few healing spells. She quickly cast a Healing Essence on Halls to start the healing process and then proceeded to use one of her new skills after reaching level 20, Heal, the more advanced version of her Cure skill.
Skill Name: Heal
Skill Level: 2/4
Skill Rank: B
Mana Cost: 160
Cast Time: 2 seconds
Active: Heals an ally target for 220% of the user's 'Healing Factor'.
Cooldown: 2 seconds
Although it was more powerful than Cure, it had a longer cast time and cost more mana to use. It was something she was unwilling to use unless someone received a great deal of damage. It seemed for this fight, Luna would have no choice but to use Heal over Cure. After all, an attack that was blocked dealt over 1,600 damage.
+1,485 HP
Halls had nearly all of his lost HP restored thanks to Luna's Healing Essence and Heal skills. If he had missed the timing on his Rebound skill, then he would not have gotten away with such a light scratch.
Zi Yi fired off an arrow that soon disappeared into the void. Around 1 second later, the arrow reappeared above the Silverline Entity's head and pierced right into what could only be referred to as its skull.
-687
"Even that things head has no weakness!" Zi Yi notched another arrow, however, just as she was getting ready to fire it off, she sensed something forming above her head. She immediately took action and used an evasive roll maneuver.
Swoosh! Crash!
Less than half a second after Zi Yi moved, a silver arrow pierced into the ground where she was previously located. The ground around the arrow could not withstand the pressure and soon collapse upon itself. This created a small crater of around two meters.
Zi Yi knew this attack because it was one she had used many times before. That was definitely her skill, Void Jump! But how was that possible? At first, she believed that maybe her own skill was reflected back to her, however, that arrow she previously launched was still sticking out of the Silverline Entity's head.
If it was not for the Soul Essence trait Zi Yi recently acquired, then she would have been forced into using a life-saving skill so early into the battle.
'First Guan Yu's skill and now Zi Yi's. Could it be the reason for its lack of response was simply that it did not know how?'
Once could merely be considered a coincidence, however, two times caused grounds for suspicions. This Silverline Entity was the most dangerous type of enemy, one that could learn and adapt by just observing.
"Everyone, try to limit your higher ranked skills for the moment. At least until the Silverline Entity's HP reaches closer to its endpoint." Izroth said as he rushed towards the monster.
'I'll have to avoid using the Lightning Field and Flickering Steps until we have managed to grasp the limits of this creature's copy ability.'
"Zi Yi, what grade rank does your skill Void Jump carry?" Izroth asked. It was obvious that a skill that involved space would possess a high rank, but Izroth needed to know its exact rank.
"Hm? It's A-rank, why do you ask?" Zi Yi was curious as to why Izroth told them to hold off on using powerful attacks for now. Did he discover something about the Silverline Entity? She had a general idea about the abilities of this monster, but she only had a theory, not proof.
'It can even mimic A-ranked skills?'
Izroth knew that there was a good chance that it would be able to do so, but he hoped that it would not be the case. He wondered if it was also capable of copying S-ranked skills. However, did he want to risk finding out? Frankly speaking, there was no one here who could track Izroth during his Flickering Steps.
The people with the best chances of doing so were Luna and Zi Yi. This was because of Luna's unique ability that she had yet to disclose, and the fact that Zi Yi possessed the most refined senses out of everyone present. But even then, they would not be able to handle that kind of speed for a full twenty seconds.
"I believe that this Silverline Entity is capable of copying any skill that we use against it, even those at A-rank. Earlier, it used Guan Yu's skill and just now it used your own skill against you." Izroth said as he arrived in front of the Silverline Entity.
"You mean that it can copy whatever skills we throw at it?!" Halls was there to witness Izroth's use of the Second Baneful Sword: Kill. If it was able to copy that skill, then there was no way any of them could survive against that strike.
Everyone now understood why it was that Izroth wanted them to avoid using their higher ranked skills. It would only mean making things more difficult for themselves.
Izroth's leg shot towards the boss monster as if it were a snake striking at its prey. Since the Silverline Entity did not appear to have any vital points, he decided to use the same method as when he uncovered the weakness of the Chaos Fiend.
A light glow formed around the body of the Silverline Entity. When Izroth saw this glow, he instantly tried to slow his attack as much as possible. However, the system appeared to be restricting his ability to do so and the attack carried forward.
When Izroth's foot crashed into the body of the of the Silverline Entity, its entire body was locked in place.
-283
Izroth used the skill Serpent's Bite. Although its damage left more to be desired, it served its purpose in successfully halting the movements of the Silverline Entity.
However, Izroth was knocked back a few meters as a result. The Silverline Entity had used Halls' Rebound skill. But, the strange thing was that it did not block any of the damage as Halls' Rebound skill should do.
Izroth instantly regained his footing as the knockback effect ended. He was unsure of the reason, but the Silverline Entity was only able to copy a part of Halls' skill and not the whole skill like with all of the others. This made Izroth think of one important question.
'What is it that was different about that skill?'
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