Instantly, I got peeved. She's just too dense (or I'm too bad at displaying annoyance). Either way, I had appeared behind her in a flash of red lightning. The area where I entered and exited [Bloodthunder Ripple] had small remnants of spatial distortion. I then placed both blades of the [Iron-woven Azes] on her neck. A ranger being this close to me, nomatter their skill level, will die without a doubt at this stage of the game.
Being honest, this reaction is neither of our faults. It's mostly the people behind her (that I know exist, they all do in large(r) guilds. Those corrupt people would want everything to do with me if they find out what I've been doing. Scouts are the most annoying ones to deal with.
You'll feel bad for killing them, but if you let 'em live, they'll pester you till your brain cuts off its oxygen supply.
"Please, leave me alone. I don't have good experiences with large groups." I teleported back to my team, who were completely stunned.
"You guys, let's go to the entrance. It'll open soon."
This time, it was us parting the crowd that were all gonna choke on flies anytime now. Still, their identities as mostly above average players showed as they recovered and quickly went into discussion. Not much time passed before the floodgates opened.
The scene was quite cool. Over 70 teams at the very least of this zone's highest leveled players all rushing to enter a dungeon. Unsurprisingly, everybody picked the Earth version of it.
[ Please choose a difficulty:
Earth [+]
Venus [+]
Mercury [+] ]|
"Mercury" I said aloud.
"""What!?! Wa-"""
*Shua~~*
…
~
…
"Mercury!?!? Why would ya' pick the hardest fuckin' difficulty? Are ye' braindead?"
"Hey~ Hey~ Hey~ Calm down, Leena. No point in complaining now that it's done.
But still, why this difficulty? I don't even think teams of Lv.15's could pull that off." Apollo put on a display of his leadership abilities by calming Leena, the Summoner, down.
"Don't worry, I didn't make a mistake." This time, I was finally ready to take off the cloak. All my 16 levels (I did a bit of leveling before for a bit of a boost) were gloriously shining on full display. "I can take care of the mobs, but I'll need a couple breaks. Have a good ride on the Ire-1 rocket to space."
"..."
"What the fuck? How the hell is he…"
"Try not to ask many questions. All you need to do is do as I say and it'll be just fine."
"..."
"First off, we have to run."
"Hah?"
I was already off. My pace was set to a manageable one so they could follow close enough.
"Oi! Wait up! Why are we running right off the bat? If we do this, we'll attract too many mobs!"
I completely ignored Sokka's, who had finally spoken, obvious statement. Actually, it was a bit of an understatement.
"COME OUT YOU FUCKING TWATSSSSS!!!!!~~~ BIG DADDY IRE'S GONNA' KICK YER' ASSES! FIGHT ME IF YOU DARE YOU ROTTEN TREE-FUCKS!"
I roared with all my might. Monsters, especially these ones, have much better audio-agro ranges compared to their visual ones. This taunt was just improv., but it worked wonders.
Out of the darkness-covered foliage came three [Corrupted High Elf]s. They didn't care much about what was said, all they saw was a new snack.
"Now ya' done it! The-"
*Zzzttztzztttt~*
I apparated right behind them in a ripple. For efficiency's sake, I drew my sword and swung.
*Chu-Chu-Chunk!~*
[ You killed 3: Corrupted High Elves!
+ 297 EXP ]|
I went back to running in front of my surprised teammates. The things came out at a bad spot, so I had to kill them. Already I sensed a large group of them converging behind us which forced me to speed things up a little.
For context, this dungeon used to be a decently sized young High Elf village. They co-existed quite well with Culsan, providing them with potions and medical assistance in exchange for labor and other goods they were lacking. Near the 15th year after its establishment, a mage arrived. There, he built up a decent relationship with the townsfolk, but it was (you can see what's coming) all a ruse.
The whole time of his stay he was busy setting up an array. The purpose was to turn every Elf on every floor into his lackey. What he hadn't planned for was that he had messed up with the linework in one of the most crucial places. The control layer.
Being the last layer, it was understandably rushed. Elves (NPCs) aren't idiots, and uprooting fake friends are their specialty. If he didn't finish in time, everything would be ruined.
This blunder, however, was worse than being caught. Every single person in the vicinity was instantly turned mad. Corruption spread through their bodies, turning them into brainless bloodthirsty beasts not much different from undead. This included the mage.
Due to the spell, their numbers swelled greatly, making this dungeon a horde based one. That is the reason they individually drop not so much EXP. Granted, 20% was given to my team (even if they didn't do anything).
"Hey! Don't fall behind! We're leading them into a chokepoint."
My comment had an unintended effect. All of them looked behind for a brief moment, finding a growing lump of the things chasing after us. This comically sped them up several times.
A few stragglers appeared in front, but I dealt with them using the axes.
My plan for the moment was pretty simple. Lead everything into a walled off area and start killing. Behind us was a horde of about 160 [Corrupted High Elves] had collected behind us with much more to come.
One place was perfect for them to be led to, and that is the pre-boss room. A tall opening about 2.5m wide opens up to a football (not American) field sized room made out of grey stone. I will have my teammates go in there to kill off any stragglers that get past me.
With my abilities and sword, it's actually more beneficial for me to be surrounded by large groups than to have to fight them through a small area. And with my team being away, I don't have to worry about them hindering my inevitable slaughter.
~
"*Pant~ Pant~* Ire! Sht, we've got over 400 of those things on our asses! How the hell are we going to kill them!?!"
We were nearing our destination. With over 400 [Corrupted High Elves] behind us, Apollo and the rest of the group were getting nervous. This was only due to them being newbies, though. Without their intelligence, these things are easier to kill than undead because of their frail bodies. If, for instance, a human or orc settlement was corrupted like this, it would be no less than a large team dungeon.
Definitely not fit for players under 20.
This was the basis for my confidence. Fast but weak and stupid are the easiest for a berserker to kill, especially me since they are all basically free healthpacks, letting me take as much damage as I need. On top of all this, we have a bard. As long as you can hear one, their buffs will work on you.
In Duality, there weren't many bards early on. They relied on you actually being able to play the instruments, which was cool but difficult. However, the different instruments (which all fell under the Unique category for weapons) constitute a number of real life ones. For example, one bard could use a bagpipe, another an electric guitar, another a saxophone, another a drum set, thus accommodating almost all real life musicians.
Once word of this got out, that the bards didn't just play random ass tunes on repeat, many musicians came in to try it out. In game, the system can take your music and rate it on an extremely complicated scale measuring almost everything about the sounds made. It actually caused an update to happen due to the system's new requirements.
In the new update, the system could detect how the music interacts with people and determine the effects of that piece. If it met the requirements, you could set it as skills that match.
Apollo has the typical bard mandolin, so his pieces should be the base ones for his skills. Judging by their team-comp, he's the healer.
"We're almost there. Apollo, do you know how to play that thing?"
"Y-yeah? I learned it a while back before I played guitar."
"Good.
The rest of you. We are nearing that chokepoint I talked about. I will let through enough for you to deal with, so fight hard."
"Let through?"
"You'll see. If you slack even a little, though, you'll die."