𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟒𝟎
‘If it’s similar to the thoughts, then light attacks should work too, right?’
For the Anis Kingdom players, the biggest problem was the Apostle, not some mere thought.
The Apostles who recovered their health by killing players.
Compared to that, Beluin’s Specter was just annoying because it could use its powers; it didn’t mean it couldn’t be killed.
Perhaps if they lured it towards the players and focused their attacks, they could probably catch it.
‘I want to experiment.’
If it were up to me, I would have experimented a few times and lured it towards the players, but the Fifth Apostle wasn’t just going to stand still.
Rumble!━
Perhaps because all the magic I’d cast so far had missed, the Apostle summoned eight statues again.
However, I could dodge the long-range attacks from this distance somehow.
━Kuaaaa!
‘Huh?’
Suddenly, Beluin’s Specter, which had eliminated one of the illusions, was running towards me, screaming strangely.
With the Sword of Ruin in hand, no less.
‘What’s wrong with that one?’
Did I even enter its attack range?
“Divine Manifestation!”
Thinking so, I used Divine Manifestation.
Originally, the Roar of the Thunder Dragon possessed lightning attributes, but I had just seen it being ignored, so I decided to respond by changing it to light attributes. While being careful of the beam attacks from the statues, I blocked the Sword of Ruin.
Kwang!━
‘Not bad.’
Fortunately, the power the Specter possessed wasn’t overwhelming.
Judging that it wasn’t too difficult to block, I dodged the incoming beam attacks and blocked the Sword of Ruin, but after a few seconds, I could feel it getting harder.
Honestly, it would be stranger if it wasn’t difficult to dodge and block attacks coming from both sides.
Bang!- Bang!━
‘Damn it.’
It couldn’t be helped.
Thinking it would be better than being hacked to pieces by the Sword of Ruin after being hit by a magic attack and staggering, I activated my second Intuition and was able to predict the incoming magic.
It became possible to dodge more leisurely.
And beyond dodging, I could even graze the Sword of Ruin and land an attack.
Kwang!━
[Hit Damage! 12,550.]
‘As expected, it’s the same as the thoughts.’
With the impact transmitted through the Roar of the Thunder Dragon, the Specter staggered back a few steps.
Perhaps because it wasn’t using any special skills, it felt easier than the Fifth Apostle.
Bang!━
[The durability of the weapon ‘ +15 Roar of the Thunder Dragon ‘ is at 10%.]
‘Huh? Durability?’
Perhaps because the damage of the Sword of Ruin wielded by the Specter was drastically strong, an unbelievable message appeared.
Wasn’t the Roar of the Thunder Dragon’s durability over 300?
As someone who had never seen this message before while holding the Roar of the Thunder Dragon, I was a little flustered, but I quickly calmed down and opened the item window to switch to the Infinite Sword.
‘I never thought I’d use this like this.’
Even so, the Infinite Sword had infinite durability, so there was no problem blocking like this, but instead, the attack power dropped to an absurd level.
[Attack Power：4898]
Of course, the damage would be higher than this due to the Divine Manifestation effect, but I couldn’t even dream of dealing over 10,000 damage like before.
Bang!━
‘But when are these guys coming?’
Currently, the Fifth Apostle and the Specter were separated, so if I rushed in, I could draw the attention of one of them.
What I wanted there was to bring about 10,000 people and focus their attacks on the Specter, but considering the Anis Kingdom players I’d seen so far, I wondered if it was too much to ask.
Waaaaaaa!━
Anyway, as I was stalling for time without any proper attacks, the Anis Kingdom players I had been waiting for finally charged, but their target wasn’t the Specter, but the Fifth Apostle.
“……”
Well, since we had decided from the beginning that they would take on the Fifth Apostle and I would take on the Specter, the Anis Kingdom players weren’t wrong.
On the other hand, even if I took on the Fifth Apostle, there was no guarantee of victory, so it might have been better to deal with the Specter, which could at least be damaged.
I convinced myself in that way and started attacking the Specter more aggressively.
Chaak!━
[Hit Damage! 6,826.]
Was the damage almost halved?
Conversely, if I attacked twice instead of once, it wouldn’t matter, but the problem was the Specter’s health.
What if it was around 3 million?
Zing━
‘Huh?’
Suddenly, as soon as I thought about its health, I could roughly gauge it with Intuition.
However, I wasn’t surprised by that; I was surprised because its health was lower than I expected.
‘About…… 140 hits?’
With these ordinary attacks, it was 140 hits, so Beluin’s Specter didn’t have that much health.
By the way, if I really lured it towards the players, could I catch it?
Perhaps thinking the Specter’s health was 1 million, I was about to inform the players attacking the Fifth Apostle of this fact, but before I could, a message appeared as a warning.
[Beluin’s Fifth Apostle uses Inferno.]
‘Inferno?’
The Inferno that the Apostle used at that moment devastated a radius of 1 km.
I knew I wouldn’t die even if I was hit by Inferno, so there was no problem for me, but the other players definitely couldn’t survive that attack.
Moreover, measuring the range with the rising heat haze, all the players attacking the Apostle were within range.
It was impossible to avoid.
At that moment, flames erupted, dyeing my vision red.
Kwaaang!!━
[You have taken damage……]
Besides, just because I couldn’t see didn’t mean I could stand still.
Even in this situation, the Specter was swinging the Sword of Ruin.
Perhaps because it was magic cast by its ally, it was swinging its sword nonchalantly, but fortunately, I noticed the attack with Intuition and was able to block it without difficulty.
Bang!━
‘Looking at this, the Infinite Sword is a decent weapon.’
If used properly, it was a weapon that allowed a dealer to also act as a tanker.
Even now, I was blocking the Sword of Ruin and holding on relatively comfortably.
However, any other weapon would probably break quickly.
‘It would have been the best item if only it could be enhanced.’
Perhaps it would have been a decent weapon, enough to replace the Roar of the Thunder Dragon.
[Hit Damage! 6,841.]
Anyway, while I was blocking the Specter’s swift sword, which it swung 3-4 times per second, with Intuition and increased Agility, the flames of Inferno subsided, and the scene on the ground was revealed. As expected, there wasn’t a single player left.
All the players who had rushed towards the Apostle were dead.
Moreover, sensing that the Fifth Apostle’s target had shifted back to me, I attacked the Specter while keeping an eye on it.
Chak!━
[Hit Damage! 6,838.]
[Hit Damage……]
‘Sigh, when will I ever catch it like this?’
It was driving me crazy trying to block the incoming magic and the Sword of Ruin while attacking the Specter.
Furthermore, what made me even more anxious was my Stamina.
Since I wasn’t using shield skills, my Stamina wasn’t recovering either. While it didn’t matter if I just kept attacking like this, I needed to use Phantom Shift to avoid the Apostle’s area-of-effect magic, so my Stamina was continuously decreasing.
‘But it’s not like there’s no way.’
I still had an emergency measure to replenish my Stamina.
It was Absolute Recovery, which was part of the Legendary item.
[S-Rank Absolute Recovery Effect] (LV30)
━Recovers 100% Health per second.
━Recovers 100% Magic Power per second.
━Recovers 10% Stamina per second.
━Duration: 30 seconds.
*Cooldown: 720 minutes.
The short duration was a drawback, but if I used it, I wouldn’t have to worry about Stamina for 30 seconds.
Also, it was a skill that guaranteed survival if I could just hold on for one second.
If it wasn’t for the Sword of Ruin wielded by the Specter, I would have used it earlier to attack, but the damage of the Sword of Ruin I had experienced before made me hesitate.
Kwang!━
‘Even now, it swings the sword 3-4 times per second, so……’
Perhaps if I was hit three times in a row, I would die instantly.
Considering that, it seemed difficult to use Absolute Recovery and attack relentlessly for 30 seconds.
‘Besides, the magic is also bothersome.’
First of all, the Fifth Apostle was a Raid Boss.
As befitting a Raid Boss, the magic it cast had a considerable impact, so unless I blocked it head-on, my posture would inevitably crumble, and there was also the possibility that I wouldn’t be able to block the Specter’s attacks in front of me. Therefore, the magic the Apostle cast was bothersome.
‘Of course, if I keep attacking like this, I’ll eventually catch it, but.’
Fortunately, even in this situation, I was steadily dealing damage.
If Beluin’s Specter had a skill to recover its health, it would be a different story, but if it didn’t, I might be able to catch it within 10-20 minutes. However, the Apostle, having failed several magic spells, cast a different magic than before.
[Beluin’s Fifth Apostle uses Earth Rumble.]
‘A message?’
The fact that a message appeared when it used magic meant it was a significant skill.
Rumble!━
“……!?”
The moment I realized that, the ground I was standing on suddenly began to shake violently, and as my posture momentarily crumbled, the Sword of Ruin slashed through my body.
Chaak!━
[The power residing in the Sword of Ruin ‘ Meron ‘ claims your life.]
[You have taken damage! -27,628.]
Damn it!
“Elsyke’s Phantom Shift!”
As soon as I took damage from the Sword of Ruin, I hurriedly used Phantom Shift to escape and quickly checked my health.
Since I had been hit by Inferno and the Sword of Ruin earlier, my remaining health was probably not much.
[Health：903 (+9000)/64336]
‘900 health……’
It was currently recovering at a rate of about 600 per second, but if I made a mistake, I might die and end up fleeing to the Harpe Empire.
‘……At this rate, I have no choice but to use Absolute Recovery and deal as much damage as possible.’
Waaaaaaa!━
“……?”
I decided to focus on dealing as much damage as possible, even if it was difficult, and was about to move when I heard people shouting from one side. Soon after, I could see players running towards me.
Why are those guys suddenly doing that?
If they were coming to help, it would be welcome, but perhaps because my expectations were low due to what had happened so far, I became suspicious instead.
“We’re almost there! Attack!”
Anyway, because of the charging players, the Apostle and the Specter stopped their attacks on me and looked at the players running towards them.
Realizing this, I stepped back and observed the situation. Soon, I could understand what was happening as most of the players who had charged towards the Apostle turned towards the Specter.
‘They must have seen its health.’
They probably confirmed that the Specter’s health had decreased to a certain extent and realized that its total health wasn’t that high.
Should I call this cunning?
Regardless of their intentions, their support was welcome.
It would have taken a lot of time for me to deal with both of them alone, but with the players’ help, I could significantly reduce that time.
‘If things go well here, I might be able to eliminate Beluin’s Specter.’
One way or another, I needed the players’ help at this point, so I decided to watch for a while. However, as expected, there was no reversal like defeating it in one fell swoop.
Kwang!- Kwang!━
“Kyaak!”
“Keep attacking without rest! We’re almost there!”
“Lure it to the other side!”
“We just need to catch the Specter!”
Dozens of players turned gray due to the Apostle’s magic and the beams emitted by the statues, and the Specter was also wielding the Sword of Ruin, creating an unexpected massacre.
Of course, it was impressive to see them continuously attacking without resting even in that situation, but seeing the players dying indiscriminately made me wonder how much damage they would suffer later.
‘Even if Legendary items poured out here, they wouldn’t be able to make up for the losses, right?’
Anyway, I had no intention of missing this opportunity.
If I just stood by and did nothing, Inferno would activate again, and all the players would die.
I decided to use the players as bait and defeat the Specter as quickly as possible before that happened.
“Skill Use. Absolute Recovery.”
Pabat!━
My Health and Magic Power, which had almost reached the bottom, were restored to their maximum.
Since the duration was 30 seconds, I judged that it wouldn’t matter even if I was hit by the Sword of Ruin a few times. I aimed for the back of the Specter, which was attacking the players, and for the first time since the battle began, I was able to land a proper attack.
[Hit Damage! 6,840.]
[Hit Damage……]
‘It would be great if I could kill it within 30 seconds.’
If Beluin’s Specter ignored my attacks and continued to attack only the players, I was confident that I could kill it within 30 seconds.
However, before I could attack a few times, the Specter turned around and swung the Sword of Ruin at me.
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