As they found the entrance to the misty valley, the commander ordered a quick stop. WindBow previously told everything he saw last time to his commander, so he was preparing his soldiers to the worst.
After resting for half an hour as time was a luxury, the commander put everyone in formation and got inside. Unlike WindBow, the commander could see further ahead due to his high level. So when the dark energy attack came, he defended with his sword.
"Damn insolents! You dare disrupt a ritual to the dark god?"
"So here you are vile creature! We shall put an end to your cruel plans!"
"Keh Keh, it's too late! You have came just at the right time! Witness it! This is the dark god's power! This is Toskra's power!"
Dark energy started moving causing WindBow to finally see what's happening. He could see the wizard using a dark robe and cloak that covers his head. Because of his clothes he can't see its face, but he can see a bony hand. The man was spreading its arms and dark magic visible to the eye was gushing to a dead man's body.
WindBow noticed he actually knows the dead body's identity. It was the thief he met at the forest! What is his body doing here?
As the energy was pouring on the body, the body started to shine a black line. When the light covered the whole body, it started to change and grow. Soon there was a golem before them.
It was 4 meters high and was made of muscles. There were mouths spread around its body randomly and it looked completely grotesque. It was as if lots of bodies were mixed up.
"What an abomination! Men, let's get rid of this monster! To arms!"
"Keh he he he, show them the power of the dark god!"
The monster waved its 5 arms and howled. The voice coming from the monster was like a coral of voices howling.
[Abomination - Quest Boss]
Level: ???
HP *: 100%
*Hp information partially provided to players participating in this quest.
The abomination was strong. As the soldiers started fighting it, he saw soldiers being thrown like pebbles from a single movement. The commander and a few higher leveled were the only ones who could take a hit well.
But they couldn't fight the abomination themselves or the dark wizard would obliterate them from afar.
This was a hard to fight combo. The monster was tanky and hit like a slugger. Although he couldn't see the real value , the monster's Hp would regenerate too fast to be killed by the soldiers. Only the higher leveled knights could cause consistent damage higher than its regeneration. But the wizard would keep himself out of range while debuffing with curses and firing dark magic to kill soldiers. Whenever a knight gets close to him, he would use some kind of shadow movement to keep his distance away. An annoying way of fighting.
"This is not going well. Although the commander is doing his best, he just don't know how to turn the situation around. He doesn't have enough high leveled units and the numbers are useless here."
The commander got the same conclusion soon as he gave new orders.
"Sergeants take your troops and retreat back to Gleist Town. Dolan is on command and shall prepare defenses in case of enemy attacks. Those above Sergeant keep fighting!"
The soldiers retreated as soon as they received their orders. The knights protected their backs.
As they retreated WindBow sneakily stayed behind. Dolan was distracted with the retreat and didn't notice him disobeying orders.
WindBow didn't stay because he thought it was useless retreating. No, he was sure that if he met Dolan now or maybe inside the town, the quest should probably change to give him rewards anyway.
He stayed because he felt there was a chance to end it here. Although he was not the kind to feel emotional over NPCs, they did feel like real people and it left a bad after taste to just let them die here.
WindBow saw a very simple way to help here. Among the knights, only the commander could do any decent ranged damage. The commander would send a flying sword energy at the dark wizard from time to time, but it was not used very often. Probably it has a long cooldown.
WindBow positioned himself far away from the dark wizard, but not so far that he couldn't hit him. As the dark wizard started chanting and three knights came to stop him, WindBow took a few seconds to aim his next shot.
He used his Strong Shot skill to give him an additional chance at interrupting the casting. The arrow flew with the wind and found the mages eye socket accurately. Although he couldn't see the eyes directly, he shot around where the eyes should be.
A shot to the eye is considered a critical and in some cases a blinding attack. As the mage was casting a spell, the spell was interrupted.
The cloak dropped from his head due to his movement when he got shot and showed his face, or the lack of actually.
His head was a cranium with dark blue lines showing between cracks. His eye sockets had a strange blue light that looked like fire or ice sometimes, it felt very ephemeral.
Although couldn't discern expressions from his face, the look he gave WindBow was clear to anyone that he was pissed.
The knights used this opportunity to get some hits in and forced him to evade.
WindBow changed locations to have a good position for his next shot.
The scene repeated itself as the arrow found another critical point. This time he hit the mage's throat and caused him to miss his next words.
The mage's eyes gave a furious blaze as if caught on fire and he was forced to evade again as the knights jumped on him.
The commander was fighting the Abomination alone and he was observing the situation. Although this thing was strong, the commander was slightly stronger. He lacks the thing brute strength but he has more finesse and flexibility allowing him to control the fight.
The plan was to have the knights stop the mage as best as they could while he, as the best damage dealer, would kill this puppet as soon as possible. The problem is his damage per second is close to the same as the monster regeneration per second! So he need help! But if he sent a single knight to fight the mage it wouldn't have chance and would just find their own death!
He noticed the two arrows and the mage's reaction and his complexion brightened.
"Brilliant! Theyron, come back and help me kill this thing!"
A twin swords wielder knight stopped in his tracks and turned to the monster direction. This knight has the highest DPS after the commander.
The commander acknowledged WindBow ability and let him participate even though he was actually disobeying orders.
The mage went through hell. If he used a spell to kill that annoying archer the knights would get to him. If he got too far from the monster he wouldn't be able to help and the knights wouldn't follow. If he tried using quick spells he wouldn't be able to kill those two knights as they would keep protecting each other. That small fly that can be killed with a single spell was actually causing so much trouble!
====================
While walking through the forest, Grim met misfortune. The dark priest needed a sacrifice to summon the Abomination and Grim just got into his radar. In short, he got caught.
As his body was used as a sacrifice, the system said he couldn't revive until the Abomination was killed.
So he was in spirit form watching everything around his body. He cursed for minutes. The mage, the developers, even himself. When finally tired and ready to log out he saw someone come in. Soldiers. And among them, a very inconspicuous archer.
"That crazy guy! What's he doing here?!"
That archer was close to the back. He saw WindBow following the troops.
As he watched he saw how the dark mage finished a ritual using his body and summoned a grotesque creature.
"How the hell was this thing summoned from my body?? It has five arms! Countless mouths!!"
As the fight started he was worried that he wouldn't be able to revive for a long time. Although the commander was strong enough to kill the monster, at this pace it would take almost 2 hours at least!
As he was thinking about logging off, an arrow flew and hit the mage.
The mage revealed its skeletal head, but the most shocking was not that. This was that archer's work! That guy is obviously too low level to participate in such a fight, but he's daring to do so!
Grim in his spirit form watched as WindBow used his environment to block any instant spells the wizard threw at him. The wizard as a higher level NPC didn't try the same thing over and over. It tried instant cast to give him almost no time to evade, AoE spells, flashing closer to short the spell traveled distance and so on.
Even so, WindBow used his intellect predicting the mage's next move by small signs. He used his reflexes and his coordination to move his body the optimal way he could think. He used his environment to help him block spells or the mage's vision.
While adapting fast to the mage's next move, he kept him out of the commander's fight. The commander even trusted him enough and asked one of the knights to help him.
The estimated 2 hours minimum was shortened to a little more than 10 minutes. Grim eyes were almost out looking at the fight the whole time.
This guy is a freak! He was able to turn the momentum to his favor even while facing imminent death. A single mistake would have costed his life. And during this whole time the mage's mana was inexhaustible. In other words, although the time was short, the concentration needed was way too high!
Grim thought this archer was an skilled player before. But now he had a new understanding. The most frightening was not his skill, but his growth.
"How big can he grow?"
Admiration showed in his eyes.
=====================
With a pained howl the Abomination finally died. The commander immediately turned around.
"Give up now, Undead! Your minion is dead and out of options now!"
The mage was certainly furious. His blue eyes were now magma colored red. His anger was out of bounds!
".. an insignificant human! An insignificant human this weak actually made the Lord's plan fail! This failure shall be avenged! Lowly humans! You might have won today, but spend your days wisely. Your end is near!"
After spewing a very villain like speech, he exploded in shadows and as these dispersed he already disappeared.
[Player WindBow has completed the first main quest in the world! The first episode content shall start in earnest. Players get ready, for the storm is coming!]