While Martin and NukEncore tried different ways to break the crystallization debuff, Chaosgraphy and Kill Clause held the front line. Given their classes, Chaosgraphy had to face the wave head-on alone.
[Dark Blue Goblin Lv. 3 HP: 175/175 MP: 0]
The goblins were stronger than any enemies they had faced so far. They were smarter, better ard, and quick to scatter in every direction while relying on ranged attacks. To hurt them, Chaosgraphy first had to catch them.
As she closed in, the goblins kept hitting her and stacking bleeding. Her HP and MP steadily dropped from their attacks and the crystallization debuff. She still had no way to deal with the debuff, but she did have one way to keep her HP up.
Her twin swords let her heal as long as she inflicted bleeding on her opponents.
Because the goblins were a higher level, killing only a few of them was enough to level up and fully refresh her stats, including stamina.
Stamina mattered most right now.
While Chaosgraphy fought at the front, Kill Clause used her arrows more to support than to kill. She could not use Crippling Arrow because of the debuff, but she could still create a similar effect.
Crystal bullets cracked through the air around Chaosgraphy, each shot sharp enough to sound like glass snapping. One skipped off the stone by her boot. Another clipped her upper arm, and cold crystal imdiately crawled a little farther over her skin. She clicked her tongue and pushed forward anyway.
Her left sword knocked a goblin’s sling aside just as her right blade flashed across its throat. Blood spilled hot over the crystal-streaked ground. She planted hard on the slope, thick thighs tightening with the impact, then shot toward the next bleeding target before the first corpse even finished falling.
Even with crystal weighing down her hands, she still moved like a predator. Every stomp sent a fierce tremor through her legs and hips, and the pressure only made her smile sweeter. Danger, montum, and the thrill of the chase mixed together until her pulse felt almost intoxicating.
Behind her, Kill Clause moved with cool, ruthless precision. The draw of her bow tightened the line of her back into a clean, dangerous curve, and every release ca smooth and exact.
One arrow punched through a goblin’s eye. Another pinned a sling hand to the raw crystal beside it. A third sliced past Chaosgraphy’s shoulder close enough to stir her hair before burying itself in a goblin wrist.
No wasted motion. No panic. Just perfect support. Chaosgraphy noticed the support at once. If I’m right, she’s Cassandra Selfmore herself. I don’t know what she’s doing in our party, but she’s the real deal. With archery alone and raw experience, she’s helping so much. None of the rangers I’ve played with can hold a candle to her.
She sliced through a Dark Blue Goblin and leveled up.
Her stats refreshed.
Let’s push her a bit harder.
[Chaosgraphy: Thanks for the cover. Can you bleed the ones pressuring from twenty to thirty ters out?]
[Kill Clause: I can.]
[Chaosgraphy: Good. Keep them bleeding.]
For a mont, Chaosgraphy thought Kill Clause would have to stop covering her to fulfill that request. She could not have been more wrong.
Kill Clause handled both with ease. Her arrows whistled past Chaosgraphy and struck the goblins targeting her from that range.
Once Kill Clause tagged them and applied bleeding, Chaosgraphy took over the field.
She tore through the monsters at a speed that made her look like she was teleporting. One mont she was here, and the next she was in front of a bleeding goblin, cutting through it in a single burst.
It died on the spot.
Six seconds later, she repeated the sa movent. She appeared on the other side and carved through another goblin in a flurry of strikes.
This was a dash skill she had received from her new boots.
[Bloodtrail Boots (Common)]
[Type: Boots]
[Lv. Requirent: 1]
[Effects: Agility 2]
[Skill: Bloodstep — Dash a short distance in a chosen direction. If used toward a bleeding opponent, dash range is increased by 50%.]
[Description: Lightweight boots made for relentless pursuit. Once the enemy bleeds, they pull the wearer forward like a hunter catching a scent.]
I have to keep using at least this skill. Otherwise, I won’t have enough room to move, and I’ll eventually collapse from low stamina. I need to close the distance as much as possible because... Martin isn’t with .
[Kill Clause: That has to be a skill. Are you sure you want to use it?]
Chaosgraphy’s hands had already been coated in crystal gloves. She could not adjust her grip on her swords, let alone drop them. With her grip restricted and extra weight locking onto her hands, so attacks were already beyond her, and her damage had clearly dropped.
[Chaosgraphy: I’m not a fan of such large jewelry, but the greater the challenge, the more fun this gets. Keep them bleeding. I need it for my dash.]
[Kill Clause: Sure. This is an exploration run anyway.]
The cost of even a single slash caught up with Chaosgraphy fast. The effect was imdiate.
Her forearms crystallized as well, and she could no longer swing her swords at all. Now she could only dash toward bleeding monsters, and she was using that burst of movent just to avoid their shots.
The Dark Blue Goblins laughed at her.
"She’s done for!"
"She’ll soon turn into a crystallized mummy like the other humans did!"
"Haha!"
So that’s what they ant when they said Martin would be like the other humans soon... The miners here must have been crystallized into crystal coffins. Annoying.
Cassandra is also shooting less. Her hands must be fully crystallized now.
It looked like their run was over.
Then the most beautiful voice of the modern era rang out.
"Eyes up! Look at , you disgusting goblins!"
It was a clear command, sharp with disgust, and every goblin obeyed it.
NukEncore stood still with her hands raised over her head, her chest rising as she inhaled deeply. Above her palms, two fireballs ford at the sa ti. Over the next few seconds, those fireballs stretched into bolts.
[You have combined Fireball(Common) with Arcane Bolt(Common), creating Fire Bolt(Common).]
[Fire Bolt(Common): A result of combining two skills, Fire Bolt has less explosive power but much greater range and speed!]
"FIRE BOLT!"
She brought her hands down and sent the two fire bolts flying. They sizzled through the air and slamd straight into the heads of the two closest goblins.
"I am not done yet, you shits!" NukEncore shouted, spreading her legs and thrusting both hands forward. "I’ll make you all regret not calling a Goddess!"
Flas burst out with loud hisses, then condensed into Fire Bolts once more. NukEncore shoved her hands forward and launched them again. And again. And again. And again.
For so reason, her mana pool seed endless.
She’s really on fire now, even if she missed half her bolts. Wait... her hands aren’t crystallized.
The mont Chaosgraphy noticed that detail, a familiar voice tore through the goblins’ screams and the hiss of the fire bolts.
"TAUNT!"
[You have been taunted by Emperoar.]
You taunt ?!
Chaosgraphy’s body moved against her will. She turned fully around and broke into a short sprint toward Martin. He was already running at her with his shield raised. She could not see his face, only his narrowed eyes.
At last, she slamd the hilt of her sword straight into the center of his shield. Her crystallized hands could not loosen their grip, so the strike ca through the hilt instead.
A jolt ran through her hand and forearm.
Then the crystals burst into fragnts and freed her arm.
Chaosgraphy froze. Martin’s voice imdiately filled her head.
"Drop your sword. Now!"
She obeyed without hesitation.
"TAUNT!" Martin shouted.
The second taunt forced her other crystallized hand into his shield. Her arms were finally free. As the weight vanished, Chaosgraphy clenched and unclenched her hands several tis while staring at Martin.
He did not let her look at him for long.
Martin stepped past her and planted himself in front of her. His back was so broad that she could not see a single goblin past him.
"Sorry for being so late, but it took us a while to figure out how to break this debuff," Martin said, raising his shield enough to glance back at her over his shoulder. "But I’m all yours now. It takes two to tango. I’ll lead. You go all out and make those shits pay."
Chaosgraphy’s heart went badum badum, and her cheeks reddened. That line! It’s from the Three Empires Dawn Trilogy! Just when Marika, the villainess, was about to go alone to fight the Sun Empire, the protagonist appeared out of nowhere and joined her side for a tango against those corrupted fuckers!
Did Martin read the books?
Of course not.
He must have seen the ad. Sohow it had stuck with him, and now he had dropped the line that stirred Chaosgraphy to her core. She clutched her twin swords and smiled sweetly.
"I see a potential clump on the left. I’ll gather them up and stun them. Good enough?" Martin asked with a smile.
"I couldn’t have asked for more," Chaosgraphy replied in a sultry voice that made Martin’s heart go badum.
Martin smiled wide, his heart pounding in his chest.
"Chaos’s ti," Martin said, already leaning forward to charge.
Those girls really had a way of getting worked up.
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