BLZZT! BOOM! BOOM!!
The battle against the magic beast was filled with countless sparks and explosions. That side of the wall's battlements had become a danger zone and the other soldiers avoided it like a plague.
Fight with a magic beast? Sorry, my wife just gave birth.
Although those in the battle seemed to be battling desperately for their lives, the situation was actually far more stable than it seemed.
With the furious offense put up by the melee fighters together with the control skills of the ranged fighters and most importantly, Rastel's array-powered defensive measures, the battle entered a temporary stalemate where no side had an advantage.
There was a total of over twenty people fighting the magic beast right now and this was the best they could offer. But even with that, they were currently filled with immense satisfaction!
Just participating in this battle alone would give them bragging rights for a very long time among their peers. For the soldiers, this was something they could even tell their grandchildren about when they got old and wrinkled.
Is it not just a magic beast? I have smacked one on the head before! What? What did it do to me? Nothing of course! It didn't dare! Am I not alive and well for you to see now?
As for the players, it was even more so. There was no report whatsoever about anyone fighting a magic beast, at least not yet.
Maybe some of the top rankers had done so before and chose to hide it for various reasons but that was none of their business. As long as they claimed it first, the merit and fame would naturally go to them!
People like Erik and Redbone already had their eyes on this potential fame booster. For Erik, it was to help him gather merits to attract players as he wanted to open up his own guild.
Since he had the rare elementalist class which was good in AOE buffs and debuffs, the best way to utilize such a class would be to have more people to work with him.
His personal combat strength would be limited due to lacking attack power but he would be a successful commander or leader. Opening a guild would be his best choice.
For Redbone on the other hand, it was simply a matter of fame. As a mercenary, greater fame among players would mean better benefits.
There would always be conflict and even players hired each other if there was a problem they couldn't solve themselves. Especially so for guilds if they wanted to do some dirty work and didn't want to be associated with it, they would hire other players to do the deed and would quietly settle them in real life.
In this regard, freelance mercenaries were always the best choice. But since there were a lot of self-proclaimed mercenaries out there, the competition was high. If he had something like facing off and defeating a magic beast in his resume, his attractiveness would increase dramatically.
Because of this, most players had turned on the recording function in their interface and took many short clips of them acting 'cool' while fighting the magic beast. Some even went around different angles and took different pictures.
Most times, fights would usually be too hectic for people to even consider recording the battle or anything of the sort as they would be focused on surviving and winning the fight.
But Rastel was currently overlooking this battle and his awareness was very impressive. He was always placing timely water shields to protect the others, saving them from serious injury or potential death.
Many times, they sent him grateful glances after he had saved them from a particularly precarious situation. It was worse for the players as they were always trying to act cool instead of focusing on the fight.
"Eat my sword!!" one particularly enthusiastic player yelled out and rushed towards the magic beast while activating a skill.
His sword flashed into fancy swirls as he tried to land numerous cuts on the target only for the magic beast to casually send out a thick bolt of purple lightning towards him with a snort of irritation.
The magic beast was very irritated by these people. It had been seriously injured by Amba's previous tantrum and was now fearful of Rastel not daring to attack him again.
Now, it just wanted to kill these pests around that were trying to injure it. It chose to selectively ignore Rastel's interference and focus on the others first.
It was only blocking a few of its attacks, there was no need to form grudges right?
The player had to stop his attack when he saw the lightning bolt and tried to retreat hastily but he was too slow.
BLZZT! PAKT!
A water shield appeared in front of him on time and neutralized the attack, the player heaved a sigh of relief.
Turning back, he gave Rastel a thumbs up.
"Nice support, cleric!"
"Your grandfather is a cleric!!!" Rastel was furious!
These players were taking advantage of him to act suicidal so that they could look cool and it was now getting on his nerves.
'I am a mage for goodness sake, shouldn't I be the one doing the most damage? What is this scenario then? I am always stuck babysitting people, is it a crime to have a normal gameplay?'
Although he was not reconciled with his position, he couldn't do anything about it. Turning sideways, he saw Roxanne talking to Vars who had finally drawn back. They were discussing the plan of attack and Roxanne would take part.
Up till now, she had not gone all out and Rastel was a bit excited to see her most powerful attack. As she was a top ranker who was famous for her damage, it would definitely be something spectacular.
Baluu was standing by the side and swinging his club experimentally. Compared to the main battle, their side was relatively relaxed.
"That would work, it might not go perfectly but there would be more merits than demerits." Roxanne nodded with a serious look.
Compared to her usual laid back character, the current Roxanne was like a totally different person. No ranker was a simple person and all of them had sufficient experiences to match their strength.
"So you would help me then?" Vars looked at her with an expectant gaze.
"Since you have brought it up I naturally will, killing the magic beast is our top priority right now either way. And besides, I still owe your father." Roxanne nodded.
Rastel's interest was piqued as he heard this and couldn't help but ask.
"Ehn? When did you owe a dwarven grandmaster a favor? It has just been a few days." Her ability to win favorability was truly too high. Is this the skill of a ranker?
Roxanne didn't answer his question though.
"Don't worry, you will see soon enough." She gave him a mysterious smile.
"So we should go then?" Baluu hefted his big club.
"I will be relying on you, big guy." Roxanne looked up at Baluu's big frame and patted his arm.
He only chuckled in reply.
Very soon, they passed the heads up to the rest of the team that they were going to launch a deciding attack and the others reacted promptly, even the suicidal players.
With someone like Sacha in the background silently supporting Rastel, Vars's identity, and Roxanne's fame, nobody was really unwilling to listen to them.
The frequency of the attacks that hit suddenly increased but their recklessness decreased also. They used each other to perform feints while one person fired off a powerful skill at the magic beast's blind spot.
This was the tactic Rastel came up with to take away the beast's concentration. It had always been harassed at all sides but now the harassment came systematically and with an order. Since the attacks were now controlled, it would be easy for them to find an opening to launch their attack.
SQUEEAK!!!
The magic beast let out a pain-filled scream after being hit by a combo attack from Redbone and Erik. Although the two of them were rivals, they had a deep understanding of each other's strength and coordinated well together.
"You guys get ready, it will soon be time." Rastel said gravely as he concentrated on controlling the battle tempo.
Although the battle was now more organized, he still had a lot to do.
Vars and Roxanne took their places in front of him and waited silently. Roxanne was gripping onto her long shotgun grimly and Vars had dropped his bow aside and was eyeing his spatial ring instead.
"I will go on ahead then." Baluu said as he entered the main battlefield.
"Stay safe." Vars nodded at him.
"Sure, little viper." Baluu grinned cheekily before rushing into the battle.
He didn't attack but was just hovering around the magic beast, shuffling from one side to the other with his large frame.
Seeing Baluu approaching, the rest knew that the time had come and begun slowly pulling back. Rastel watched all the developments carefully.
At a point, the magic beast had just finished tanking a few attacks and coincidentally, Baluu was standing right in front of the beast and was blocking its view of Rastel's side.
Seeing this situation, Rastel quickly realized the chance and yelled out.
"NOW!"
BOOM!!!
Both Vars and Roxanne blasted out with explosive speed!
Dust flooded the air as they turned into blurs, quickly approaching the magic beast from Baluu's sides. Vars on the right, Roxanne on the left.
If it was Vars, Rastel had seen him use a similar skill before as he had used it when he rampaged against the half magic beast that injured Baluu.
The skill Roxanne used though was fundamentally different but didn't lose out in explosive speed. This was the specialty of the rouge class.
Explosive speed, explosive damage!
Although these thoughts flashed through his mind, he didn't forget to play his part and quickly launched his spells.
BAM! BAM!! BAM!!!
Multiple earth pillars suddenly erupted around the magic beast, pinning it in the middle. The magic beast was still recovering from the previous attack and was caught by surprise.
The earth pillars slammed into it viciously and held it in place. The magic beast was furious and was about to move to destroy them when it suddenly heard a loud growl.
"GRRR!!!!" Baluu hefted his large club and brought it down with immense strength.
BAM!!!
The club was sufficiently heavy and under the influence of Baluu's immense strength as a bearman, the magic beast couldn't help but be stunned and subconsciously released bursts of lightning to defend itself. But it was useless.
Water shields appeared one after the other on Rastel's command and protected Baluu who promptly took a step back. His goal had been accomplished.
'Everything is set. All that is remaining now is the final blow.' Rastel's eyes flashed and he turned his gaze to the duo that was launching the killing blow.
The previous events had taken just a few seconds and both of them were now positioned beside the magic beast and had leaped into the air.
Roxanne was aiming her shotgun straight at the magic beast with her sight going down the barrel. If someone took a close look at her eyes, they would see that a layer of golden light filled with markings covered her originally gray irises.
This was an aiming skill called "Weak point". As its name suggested, it targeted the weak point of the opponent and increased the chances of a critical hit, and also increased the critical damage. This was a skill that the rouge class shared with the ranger class.
Among the six classes, the ranger class was the class that most resembled the rouge class and they shared some skills. The same could be said for the monk and warrior classes and also for the mage and cleric classes.
Roxanne used this skill to target the magic beast in midair and got her lock on. Her shotgun suddenly glowed a bright light and the inscriptions that covered it brimmed with power.
BUZZ!
A powerful aura emanated from her body as she had prepared a few other skills to increase her damage.
Vars on the other hand reached out and dipped his consciousness into the interspatial ring. Two items suddenly appeared on both his hands and were covered with a red light which he promptly aimed at the magic beast.
When Rastel saw what Vars was holding, he couldn't help but have his eyes widen in shock as he thought.
'Wait, isn't that-'
BOOM! BOOM!! BOOM!!!
Three loud explosions were heard and the sound was so loud, Rastel and the others around were rendered momentarily deaf.
But immediately they regained their hearing, the sound they heard made them wish they were never born with ears in the first place.
SQUEEEEEAAAAAAKKKKKK!!!
The attack was successful!