Dodge Tank
Page 27
You cast Shadow Darkness.
Ullithilli’s resistance to dark is decreased.
Yes!
I cast Shadow Mist but an error message appears.
You don’t have enough TP to cast that spell.
What?!
I look at my stat bars that are still in a double weakened state, their max cut to a third instead of just half.
13/49 TP
I need 15 TP to cast the spell. Darn it!
Val Helena’s ring then kicks in and my TP jumps up to 14/49. Yes, 1 more second! I brace myself to dodge as Ullithilli draws near me and then cast Shadow Mist when my TP hits 15.
The purple mist sprays from my palm and I cringe in preparation to be slammed again.
You cast Shadow Mist.
Ullithilli is poisoned.
Ullithilli is slowed.
Ullithilli is Paralyzed.
The LM freezes before me and I almost don’t know what to do. I snap to my senses and make use of the second chance this has given me. I ignore my HP bar. 100% or 1%, it doesn’t matter anymore. From this point on, I need to not get hit.
Ever!
I cry out with another Warcry as I unleash a triple attack with my flaming blue blades. The monster returns to life and I focus on its massive arms as they spin and twirl toward me. They are still fast but not as fast as before. It takes all my focus and determination to bob and weave between each one.
But I do it!
I get more attacks in as my success emboldens me and I begin to study and learn the pattern. I get into the zone and begin to relax a bit. And think. This thing has two AOE moves nearly back to back. I’ll need to precast Shadow Copy to have the cooldown ready to cast again once the first AOE goes off. But that means not getting hit and losing it prematurely.
A lot riskier than with Sheeba.
I use retreat and cast Shadow Copy and then reengage with a Charge Strike.
(RNG) Zeke: Holy crap… he’s actually soloing that thing!!
(RNG)Val Helena: Silvi give us raises! We can recover! But no one get up until the room AOE goes off.
Silvi and her team start casting raises, assisted by Gilly.
Gilly: You’re doing great, babe! Hang in there! xD <3
Her words encourage me as I see the room wide message appear.
Ullithilli readies Whirlpool!
I put in a full set of attack as the AOE blast goes off, stripping my shadow. I then retreat and cast Shadow Copy again. After dodging a few more hits the second AOE comes.
Ullithilli uses ink storm!
Your shadow absorbs the attack!
I then hear Gilly shouting: “Reece! Run to the other side! Quick!”
Tiny bubbles emerge at my feet through the sand. The room wide arena attack! I disengage and use sprint, running as the bubbles get stronger. I reach where the bodies of my comrades lay and half the arena explodes in a shower of sand behind me. Ullithilli is caught in the blast but it doesn’t seem to take any damage from it. But it’s down to 46% now and still slowly dropping due to my poison.
(RNG)Val Helena: Lead it back away so we can raise, Reece! Keep it up!
I do so, kiting the giant Octopus. I case Shadow Mist again and manage to paralyze it a second time, buying me more distance. Val Helena and the team get to their feet as I settle into tanking again.
“Change of strategy!” Val Helena yells. “The adds will spawn again soon. Reece, you just keep tanking the boss when they do. I’ll take both mobs. Silvi you’ll need to work extra hard to keep me up in my weakened state. Zeke you save your rage meters and use them on the boss when I say so. Thanus wait till you see Reece land his debuff before you nuke.”
“Roger!”
“Okay!” they all acknowledge the plan.
I go through another set of AOE’s, working down its HP some more while Val Helena and the crew stick to the sidelines waiting for weakness to wear off. The fishmen then respawn with the crab and Kraken.
“Show time!” Val Helena shouts and draws the mobs to her with a Warcry.
I see her HP bar jump up and down more erratically than before as she activates a series of defensive abilities. Sometimes her bar drops to as low as a sliver before Silvi manages to bump her up again.
I work hard landing Shadow Fire in between attacks and finally manage to do so.
“Debuffed!” I yell and Thanus’ team respond by dropping huge fireballs and meteorites that take Ullithilli health down to 35%.
“Everyone run toward Reece!” Gilly yells as the arena wide attack sends bubbles under the melee team’s feet.
I use backflip to give me some space and draw the LM toward me, giving room for Val Helena and the team to join me on my side. They battle the mobs as they run and by the time the arena blasts goes off, they down both the crab and the Kraken.
“Go now, Zeke!” Val Helena yells in her goddess voice. “Power attack.”
Jax starts the party with a power attack backstab that does 8% damage. Then Zeke and the Dwarfs kick in. I’ve never seen a boss’s HP gauge go down so fast. Their combined attack hit with another volley from Thanus and the LM drops to 5%.
It also turns to them.
Oh crap!
I use Warcry but it has no effect. What? I then notice that my Shadow Tendrils has worn off.
“I can’t pull it back!” I yell. “You guys did way too much damage!”
“Nuke it, quick!” Val Helena shouts.
“We’re all out of TP!” Thanus cries.
“Us too!” echoes Silvi.
Double crap!
Ullithilli uses ink storm!
The HP bars of the melee team go flat once again as the AOE wipes them out. Crap! Val Helena is still alive by just a sliver.
“Reece!” she shouts as she uses Warcry, keeping the mob glued to her. “Backstab it!”
I use hide and then thrust my katanas into its rubbery body. My blades find their mark doing 4% damage.
“1% left!!” Thanus shouts. “Kill it! Kill it!”
Val Helene raises her sword to the sky and her entire body burst into radiant white light.
Val Helena uses Invincible!
“I just used my 24 hour ability!” she shouts. “You got 30 seconds to kill this thing, Reece! Go! Go! Go!”
Holy crap!
I go all out on Ullithilli as the LM hits Val Helena with no effect.
Ullithilli hits Val Helena for 0 damage!
Ullithilli hits Val Helena for 0 damage!
Ullithilli hits Val Helena for 0 damage!
Ullithilli hits Val Helena for 0 damage!
Ullithilli hits Val Helena for 0 damage!
Ullithilli hits Val Helena for 0 damage!
It’s still at 1% and I’m about to run out of stamina. No!
Suddenly a green light washes over me.
Gilly casts second wind.
You regain +150 Stamina.
Hot damn! I charge on with a full tank of gas and the LM finally expires.
Reece has defeated Ullithilli!
You defeated Ullithilli
You gain 0 experience points.
You find a Neptune’s Trident
You find an Ullithilli Mantle
You find a scroll of Heal IV
You gain 20000 credits.
Congratulations! You have earned a new Title: Ullithilli Undoer
Congratulations! You have unlocked a new spawn point.
The entire guild erupts into cheers of relief and joy.
“OMGZ!”
“We did it!”
“So close!”
“Did you dead guys get credit?”
“Yup!”
“Man that was intense!”
I breathe a sigh of relief as Gilly runs in to hug me. “You did it, babe!”
I hug her back and feel exhausted. I check my HP. Still at 27.
Val Helena strolls over and gives me a nudge and a smile. “Not bad for a gimp.”
I laugh at that.
As Silvi gets all the dead guys raised, Val Helena distributes the drops.
“Zeke, that trident has you written all over it. Same goes for you and that mantle, Thanus.”
The two cast lots and gain their new items.
“Sweet!”
“Thank guys!”
“Who needs the scroll?” Val Helena asks.
“Think we all have it already,” Silvi says.
Val Helena smiles at Gilly. “Well, since you pretty much saved the day with that Second Wind and keeping Reece on his feet, I’d say you earned it, Gilly.”
Gilly gasps. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, loot it, Gilly,” Silvi says with a smile. “It’s yours!”
“Gratz Gilly!”
“Gratz!”
“Go Gilly!”
I see her face light up as she receives the scroll. “Whoa! Thanks so much, you guys!”
“I hope you know that means you have to level up to use it now,” Val Helena says grinning at her.
Gilly only laughs again.
“Ok guys,” Val Helena says. “If you were in party when we killed the boss you should all have gotten a new fast travel point. Check to the side of the main map.”
I pull up my map and I do indeed see a new fast travel point that’s literally outside the map itself.
The Plains of Duality
The name looks familiar to me for some reason.
“See you guys there,” Val Helena says and fast travels away.
As the rest of the guild begins to disappear I share a look of excitement with Gilly.
“Ready?” I ask as I take her hand.
She squeezes back. “Ready.”
Then together we both fast travel into the unknown.
Chapter 33 Plains of Duality
We materialize onto a field of well-manicured grass. A strong wind blows and all around me, I can see nothing but puffy white clouds illuminated by a brilliant noon day sun. The area we’re in is quite small, about the size of two tennis courts and diamond shaped, enclosed by a hand railing. I then realize that we’re not standing on a field at all, but on some kind of floating island.
“Woah…” Gilly says as she gazes about. “This is so cool.”
As I approach the railing I see more islands floating far below us, but much bigger than the one we are on. They are about the size of the boss arena we just left and for all intents and purposes they look exactly fit for that purpose. I see one that is covered with desert sands, another with ice and snow. Another looks like it belongs in the center of a volcano.
“Is this where the world boss spawns?” Gilly asks.
“Yes,” Val Helena says as she steps behind us. “Come join the others, I’ll explain how this all works.”
We move to the center of the island where the guild is already gathered and Val Helena stands in the center. “Congratulations you guys. You now have access to the Plains of Duality. Or what people commonly call Sky…” And then she adds with a grin “…for obvious reasons.”
That gets a few laughs.
“When the world boss spawns about a month from now, it will appear randomly on one of those islands below. When it does a teleport gate will appear, right about here.” She stomps on the ground under her boot. “There’s a catch though. The gate teleports you randomly to any one of the islands, not the one where the boss spawns.”
Thanus huffs. “So we’ve got to get lucky?”
“Essentially,” Val Helena says. “But there’s a way around it. You can gain a special key item that will allow the gate to send you to the right island.” She then grins wickedly. “That’s how we’re going to beat the rest of the shard here and get the claim.”
The guild lights up with enthusiasm at that.
“So the key item is next on the hit list?” Zeke asks, flexing his new trident.
“Unfortunately no,” Val Helena says. “It involves an event that only happens when the bosses spawn. But on the plus side, it’s pretty painless to obtain. But we’ve got a month to prep for that. For now we just need to focus on getting everyone to 85 and then tackling more raid bosses so we can gel as a team and take down stuff a bit more smoothly.”
“Yeah, no crap,” Thanus says with a laugh. “That win was a trainwreck!”
Everyone laughs good-naturedly, but I can’t help but feel a bit responsible for the disaster. I give a weak smile. “Yeah, sorry about that, guys. I’ll try not to suck so much next time.”
To my surprise that gets another round of laughs and a few pats on the back.
“Okay, that’s it for today,” Val Helena says. “Great job everyone. We’ll all meet up later to celebrate, but for now have some R&R. You’ve earned it!”
We break up and Gilly takes hold of my arm. “That doesn’t apply to you, Reece. Come on, we need to go level!”
I laugh as I’m dragged along with her. As we depart I notice Val Helena overlooking the railing with her back to me. Something about the way she’s just standing there alone, almost forlornly, strikes a chord within me and I slow. “Hey, Gilly. You mind if I go have a chat with Val Helena? I just wanted to thank her.”
Gilly’s countenance darkens with a scowl. “Seriously… you’re still chasing after that big hussy? After all I’ve done for you?”
“What? Gilly! It’s not even like—”
She then bursts into laughter. “Man, you’re so easy to troll.”
I suck my teeth at her. “Not funny. I’m going to tell her you called her a hussy too.”
“’Big hussy’,” she corrects and then laughs some more. “Go on, you duffus! Meet me in Swifttide when you’re done. And give her a big hug from me too.”
Gilly then gives me a quick peck on the lips and waves as she fast travels away.
I chuckle to myself. What a gal.
I approach Val Helena from behind and stand next to her as she surveys the sea of clouds. “Nice view.”
Val Helena looks down at me and smiles. “Not going to go level?”
“In a bit,” I say.
I almost have the urge to tell her that I’m actually on a new time table now and need to make two million credits in just a couple of days. But she’s helped me with enough already. Plus Gilly has it covered, I’m sure. She hasn’t let me down yet. “Just wanted to say thanks for today. And for what you did for Gilly too. It means a lot to me to see you guys getting along.”
She nods. “Well, I figured she’s pretty much in the family now. Didn’t want her to miss out on experiencing this place with the rest of the guild.”
I nod. “Hey… I think I actually remember this place now.”
She looks at me surprised. “You do?”
“Well, not remember it…like I’ve been here before. It’s where I saw you when I searched for you that night. When I sent you that PM to help me get my corpse.”
She nods. “Ah…”
I think back nostalgically to that moment. Although it’s only been a few days, it might as well be years in terms of how far I’ve come. “I owe you a lot for that, Val Helena. For what you did for me that night. And everything since. I wouldn’t have been able to make it this far without you.”
“Hey, you can thank yourself too, you know?” she says. “You work hard and take risks most people wouldn’t.” And then she grins. “Plus those crazy reflexes of yours don’t hurt either.”
I laugh at that. “I haven’t forgotten my promise to you either, Val. When the World Boss spawns…I’ll be there.”
“Thanks,” she says. “It means a lot to hear you say that.”
A pause settles between us as we look out at the sky.
“I guess you come here a lot, huh?”
Val Helena leans against the railing, which is chest height for me, but waist height for her. “Sometimes…It’s a nice place to get away and think.”
I study her face as her s
teel gray eyes search the clouds, staring at something I can’t see. “Why is it you need to kill the World Boss anyway, Val? Is it the credits? It drops like 20 mil or something right?”
“Forty,” she says. “Don’t worry. You’ll get plenty to afford your mom’s treatment with your share.”
I don’t have the heart to tell her that I’ll be paying for my mom’s treatment long before that.
“I’m dreading it,” she says suddenly. And her eyes glisten and begin to tremble. “Every moment I think about it, I feel like I’m going to be sick.”
“What?”
She straightens then and wipes her eyes with her palms as she pressed on a smile. “Yup. It’s going to be that tough of a fight, Reece. Think Uliligy-whatever times ten.”
She then laughs, but it’s a hollow sound. Not like her usual laugh at all.
But I laugh with her, anyway. For her sake.
“But hey, we’ve got a month to prepare, right?” She looks down at me and smiles.
I can only nod.
“That’s right,” she says and looks back to the sky. “We should be more than ready by then. More than ready.”
I wait to see if she says anything else. And when she doesn’t I take that as my cue to leave. “Well I got to go, Val. I’ll see you around.”
She finally looks back at me and smiles, but with a touch of sadness in her eyes, that for some reason reminds me of my mother. “See you soon, Reece.”
We hug briefly and then I fast travel away, leaving Val Helena staring out at the false sea.
* * *
I materialize back to Swifttide still a bit perplexed by what Val Helena said to me. I’m about to send Gilly a PM about it when I notice a message from my mother that was sent about twenty minutes ago. Shoot. I must have missed it while fighting Ullithilli. I open it up.