After delivering her speech, she snapped her fingers to signal the commencement of the plan. Then, she turned and whistled towards one of the statues, which brandished a massive spear. Instead of continuing in its intended direction, the statue halted and turned to gaze at Lasiv.
She appeared to be in complete control of knowing what she was doing, and in this critical moment of life or death, I found solace in knowing there was someone dependable whom I could trust. Despite being in my virtual avatar, the excitement and feeling of danger felt genuine, as if I were genuinely fighting for my life in this second existence, even though it was only a game.
TWOD held more significance for me than just a game; I depended on it to earn coins, and I was certain there were others with similar motivations.
Next, she locked eyes with the statue, compelling it to veer off in the opposite direction and thrust its spear at her.
Once again, she gracefully arched her body backward, narrowly evading the colossal spear as it passed over her. Swiftly, she slid through the gap between the statue's legs and landed behind it.
With a leap, she plunged her knife into the statue's back and skillfully ascended to its head. Meanwhile, I did my utmost to distract the statue, slashing my sword at it, but it shattered into shimmering blue particles.
[Private system: Skill "Pseudo weapon" is activating]
Undeterred, I summoned various other weapons, from daggers to a spear and a hammer, deftly dodging the statue's attacks.
My ability to summon a succession of weapons must have piqued the cowboy man's curiosity as I noticed he observed me.
Then he asked, "How are you able to summon so many weapons one after another?"
"Well, it is my exclusive skill," I responded to him while still engaged in a battle with the raging statue before me.
Every archetype could use every weapons but they couldn't summon it one after another since there was a cool down unless they mastered each weapon first before even using it half as well as the original wielded it, but it didn't benefit in the long term since each archetype skills was weapon lock, so despite you used a spear but if your archetype was a ranger, there was no point to even train as a spear wielder since it was a waste of time.
But for me, my archetype peasant was amongst the weakest, however, thanks to my exclusive skill I could summon weapons from different foundation archetypes relentlessly, it gave me versatility in my fighting style but I lacked powerful skills since the archetype peasant didn't have any good skills, to begin with except creating potion, elixir and craftsman.
However, I turned my greatest weakness into my strength. As a peasant, I couldn't possess great skill initially, but since I had no choice but to honed my mastery in various weapons to become versatile and even defeated an A-tiers lightning type dimensional creature on my own and acquired another exclusive skill known as [Brightness of speed] two years ago.
No wonder, many people from a young age who found out their archetype was peasant wouldn't even touch the VR game and focus on building their strength in real life since what was the point of playing as fate chose you one of the weakest archetypes? However, I was different.
This game was only my escape and I would do whatever it takes for me to become stronger despite my unlucky start in real life.
At that moment, I leaped onto the giant statue's leg.
As it was kneeling, its spear struck on the ground to support him caused by Lasiv who managed to pierce its left eye with her knife.
As soon as it sensed my presence landed on its leg, the giant statue wanted to move and stood up causing me to be slightly off balance, however, the cowboy man quickly threw a rope around its neck and used all of his strength to subdue it into continue keeling down.
"Now, do it kid." The cowboy man shouted as he struggled to hold on to the rope.
With a subtle nod, I leaped from the statue's leg to thrust my sword with both of my hands into the right eyes of the giant statue, immediately after the eyes cracked and shattered then this statue crumbled into many pieces.
"One more statue down, eight more remaining," Lasiv said calmly with analytical eyes scanning everywhere.
Right, there were eight more. This was getting even more difficult than I thought. If suddenly all the statues came in all directions to attack us, it would be unimaginable.
Lasiv said as she landed on the ground beside me "Can your exclusive skill summon archer skills?"
I nodded and replied "Yes, I can. But I can only use one basic E-tier skill."
It would cost money to use a skill from other archetypes and also it was a low-grade basic skill as well. But looking at this place, I noticed no one possessed the archetype of an archer for a reason.
The cowboy man said in a quick tone "You can use a sword, spear, and also a bow as well as skill from other archetype! Bloody blondie kids, what cheat is that? Do you have an archetype of Pantologist?"
I told him in a calm voice while thinking about how to defeat the remaining statues "Well, it is hard to explain but it is one of my exclusive skills. And no, my archetype is peasant."
[Private System: You have utilized the skill "Jack of all trades"
Archetype Archery: Lethal arrow / E tier
Psuedo weapon is activating]
I summoned a bow onto my right hand after dissembled a sword from my left hand into blue particles, the bow was glowing in blue indicating the skill was activating. The cowboy man seemed to make a face of curiosity as he tilted his head slightly as he observed me.
Lasiv told me "Now use the Lethal arrow skills once the statues turn to look at you, I will gather two of them to head toward you and expose their eyes." She continued in detail "While you, old man, do whatever you can to break their eyes as well. Each one of you just needs to aim at your respective target that I assign."
It was easier said than done but I had no other choice but to follow her lead so I once again signaled my agreement by saying "I understand."
The cowboy old man also grinned widely and said "Now this is getting interesting, I will not let you down, youngster."
Her lips curved up with a smile, and then Lasiv turned her back against us and ran to the nearby statue.
Once again her whistling attracted its attention as it turned to her with a giant axe in its hand and when she initialed eye contact with the statue, it sprinted toward her with uncontrollable rage and slashed its axe mindlessly, then Lasiv began to run towards my direction.
Afterward, the other statue wielded a sword and also turned to look at her and Lasiv took this opportunity to initiate eye contact with it, its eyes grew red and also chased after her, now two statues were chasing after her causing the chamber to faintly vibrate.
The purple hair girl shouted as she was sprinting "Now, shoot its eyes."
Without hesitation, I raised the bow and aimed at the eyes of the approaching statue that wielded a sword, then I activated the skill.
With the skill being activated, my sense of perception was heightened and my target also became more visible with all their potential weaknesses exposed to me, evidently when I aimed the arrow at the statue, I saw blue particles in my vision placed on its eyes indicating this was its potential weakness.
The accuracy of my shot also increased as I released the blue arrow manifest from blue particles, it then projected toward the eyes of the statue and shattered it into pieces.
Without hesitation, I pulled the string of my bow and once again the blue particles manifested into an arrow between the string appeared as I released the shoot and hit its other eyes completely dissembling the statue that wielded the sword into a pile of stone.
Lasiv smiled at me but there was one more statue who was chasing after her and then it swung its axe at her, fortunately, she dodged it in time and landed on the ground as her feet and her right hand were placed on the ground and tried to stabilize herself while she slid.
It was at that moment that the cowboy man smiled excitedly as he lifted his surplus gun and swung it around his finger suddenly the gun shoot could be heard as he swung his gun and yet the bullet was so accurate that its trajectory toward both eyes of the approaching statue and then pierced them, shattered both the eyes and the statue itself into a pile of stone.
"This is my exclusive skill, eyes of the wilderness. Any target I set my eyes on, I never miss." The old man said proudly.
"Alright, great job but we have 7 more statues to take down." Lasiv clapped her hand as she approached us once again.
"Yes, we are in this together now. So what is your next plan?" I asked with determination.
The demon lord chuckled from a far, his voice alone made my feet quavering, he said [Blondie, the archon mentioned that you can turn time upside down. Can you do it now that your death is approaching?]
Was he talking about me?
I overheard the purple hair girl beside me murmured "Impossible, does the prologue has been revise? This isn't what the Observer from the absolute reality mentioned...."
"What are you talking about?" I asked
Lasiv seemed to had a tense looks and said "Nothing, now you are comfortable following my plan, well it is good that you are obedient." she added with a slightly doubting tone "The rest of the statues are easy to take down unless the demon lord decides to change things up."
Suddenly, a voice full of gravity could be heard causing my heart to skip a beat.
[You are pretty smart to figure out the rule, I will compliment you. But now I will raise the difficulty haha.]
The voice was from the demon lord, at the moment several rankers had already died by being pierced by the blade created from a red organism connected by a thread of veins that came from the ground.
Some rankers managed to survive but their arms and legs were hooked by the blade created from the red organisms and hanging their bodies in the air in a position of the cross. The scream of agony could be heard as more and more rankers lost their arms and legs.
A few rankers still fought and stood their ground against the red organisms in the shape of blades slashed at them, especially a woman ranker with a blue particle spartan shield that deflected all the incoming attacks, she seemed to protect everyone nearby. Counting the remaining rankers, there were only eight of us left standing.
All of a sudden the ground began to shake violently as the other remaining seven statues rushed their way toward the three of us.
"Spread out first, and then let regroup to take them down one by one when I give the signal," Lasiv stated calmly.
Following her instruction, each one of us ran in opposite directions, I noticed two statues were chasing after me while the other three following the cowboy man and the other two were following Lasiv.
Despite the size of the chamber being pretty big and allowing one to roam freely without being confined, I suddenly found myself nearly reaching the end of the corner and took a right turn out of a whim.
It was at that moment I could feel the ground shaking behind me indicating the statues tried to attack me but my leg was quicker than their attack and got away in time.
Just as I was thankful for the luck that I got away safely, another statue that was chasing after the cowboy man suddenly headed toward my direction and leaped to arrive before me, the face of this statue brimming with a malevolent smile.
Afterward, it slashed its sword above my head but I jumped onto my left side however the attack was so fast that it broke through my battle armor and narrowly missed my head but it cut my shoulder and sliced my right arm off then I landed on the ground with my body slide uncontrollably, I closed my eyes instinctively as I laid on the ground.
"Augh" I groaned in shock and pain.
Once I opened my eyes, I saw I lost my right arm, and the arms I lost were on the ground around ten meters away from me, slowly dissembling into blue particles and then making their way toward the mouth of the demon lord.
The pain of losing my arms was so unimaginable like a thousand needles pierced what remained of my arms, the burning sensation and the panic attack.
It felt like I was losing my real arm! Normally the system would identify the intense psychological stress that overwhelmed me and forced me to log out but now it didn't happen.
All avatars of rankers here who suffered the same fate as me and felt real pain weren't forced to log out by the system, what is the meaning of this?
I couldn't immediately stand up, likewise, I also heard the approaching sound of the statues. Each step carried a weight, shaking the ground.
-Shit, the pain is unbearable- I grit my teeth as I ponder.
My entire body was paralyzed but I still gathered my strength to stand up on my feet by remembering that this was just a game and not my real body, it was all about my willpower.
I had survived in real life and I wouldn't die here either, with one arm left, I summoned a buff potion while at the same time evading the giant swords directed at me as the three statues arrived before me.
As I leaped to distance myself from the statues, I took this momentary chance to drink the buff potion and immediately I could feel my agility, strength, and endurance increase.
The buff effect was temporary, therefore every second counted. There was one more card I had, this was not an exclusive skill but rather a discovery I stumbled upon during my two years grinding in the Tower of Despair.
I summoned a red elixir which only enchanted the sense of perceived time at a much slower rate for a few seconds but when combined with the buff potion and warrior basic skills, a new hidden skill could be unlocked.
[Private System: You have utilized the skill "Jack of all trades"
Archetype warrior: Lethal slash / E tier]
[Private system: Due to your effect of buff potion and psychedelic elixir combined with the skill lethal slash, you have to activate a hidden skill "Time Accel", A-tier]
Suddenly I could feel my heart pounding slowly as time began to slow down greatly, or perhaps my brain neurons took the surrounding information at a light speed causing everything to slow down.