An archer’s targeting system, whether in automatic or manual mode, had its limitations. Manual mode was self-explanatory; it required precise aim and the ability to predict a target’s movent. Automatic mode was simpler, but it still required the player to first select their target before issuing the attack command. If the target moved or was too small to be accurately selected by the targeting reticle, the command would fail.
Nyria was exploiting that very system. In her current form, she was as small and nimble as a housefly.
Automatic targeting was completely useless against a target so small and fast. Kael had already switched to manual mode before the fight even began, but the two shots he’d fired at her while she was advancing had both been effortlessly dodged.
Lila, head lowered, charged the tiny figure, her greatsword held ready. As she t Nyria, she brought Dragonbane down in a sweeping arc.
It missed.
A condescending laugh ca from the tiny figure. "Don't waste your energy, Lila. You can't hit what you can't target."
With that, she zipped past Lila and closed in on Kael, stabbing at him with a weapon that looked like a thin needle.
-1
His armor held. Lila relaxed. So what if Kael couldn't hit her? She couldn't damage him either.
Nyria then circled around to Kael's heels and unleashed a flurry of quick stabs.
-1
-1
-1
None of the four strikes broke his defense. But the instant the fourth attack landed, four damage numbers erupted over Kael’s head.
-2,000
-2,000
-2,000
-2,000
Lila’s jaw dropped. What kind of skill was that? It had just bypassed Kael’s 16,000 defense!
She had no ti to ponder it. The rest of the enemy players were closing in, launching their attacks at her.
Lila knew she couldn't stand still. Her physical defense was only around 8,000, and her magic defense was even lower. If she let them hit her from behind, she'd be dead in seconds. She broke into a run, swinging Dragonbane to parry the attacks coming from her front. Just as she was about to use a skill to dive into the enemy crowd, Kael’s voice cut through the chaos.
"Lila, you take Nyria! I'll handle the grunts!"
Lila, who was already mid-animation for [Earthshatter Leap], imdiately canceled the skill and ran back toward him.
Kael let out a low laugh, his eyes fixed on the tiny figure of Nyria on the ground. "Nice plan, Nyria. You keep busy while your army burns down Lila. But you seriously underestimated my knowledge of this ga."
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He ignored her after that, calling out one last instruction to Lila. "She's vulnerable to seamless AoE!"
Then, Kael activated [Mirror Image]. He and his three clones split up, the real Kael sprinting east while the clones ran west, south, and north.
The surrounding players froze, confused. Their orders were to kill Lila. What now?
"Boss, do we engage Dawnbreaker?" soone asked in the raid channel.
With Nyria occupied, Eldric took command. "Ignore him! Focus on Lila! Nyria will kill Dawnbreaker!"
The player who asked the question was instantly vaporized by an arrow from one of Kael’s clones.
In the midst of such a dense crowd, Kael and his clones were nothing less than killing machines. Four bodies, four arrows per volley. Each arrow could pierce through one or two targets. A single volley could take down eight players. A coordinated volley from all four of them erased thirty players from the battlefield. Against a force of five hundred, they wouldn't last long at this rate.
Seeing the slaughter, Eldric hastily anded his orders. "Strong Dispel! Purge the clones! Priests, Shamans, get on it!"
A standard Dispel was used for removing debuffs. Strong Dispel, a level 30 ability, was designed specifically to inflict massive damage on summoned units. It was a hard counter to clone-based classes.
And these were Thaloria's top players; their gear was fully socketed with gems, so of which were undoubtedly ant to enhance their dispel abilities specifically for this fight.
The plan was sound. But the reality was brutal.
Kael's clones had a 50-yard range. A priest's casting range was 30 to 35 yards. For a slow-moving cloth-wearer to cross 20 yards of open ground under the unrelenting fire of Kael’s god-tier DPS was a monuntal task.
Kael knew his clones' greatest weakness. Switching rapidly between the four points of view, he prioritized sniping any Priest or Shaman who dared to step forward. Finally, after Kael had personally killed over a hundred players, a few priests managed to get within range of a clone.
Greater Dispel!
-20,000
GreaterPurge!
-24,000
The damage was impressive, a testant to their gear. But Kael's main body had 130,000 HP, and his clones inherited 70% of that, putting them at over 90,000 HP each. It would take four or five of those hits to destroy a single clone.
By the ti they had finally eliminated all three of Kael's clones, another two volleys of arrows had flown. Their raid force had been reduced by nearly two hundred players.
Eldric was frantic. Where was Nyria? Wasn't she supposed to be keeping Dawnbreaker busy? He scanned the battlefield and saw that she was locked in a desperate struggle of her own.
Nyria had, of course, tried to stop Kael. She had a debuff that could have crippled his movent speed. But Kael had simply ignored her and run off.
When she tried to give chase, she saw Lila leap into the air. She knew the power of [Earthshatter Leap] and its AoE stun, which ignored target size. She quickly cast [Tidal Magic Shield], boosting her resistances just enough to avoid the effect.
She tried to disengage from Lila to pursue Kael, but Lila was relentless, imdiately unleashing a [Dragon Slash]. Three waves of blade energy shot toward Nyria’s back. She sidestepped them with ease, but just as the waves passed her, Lila suddenly appeared where the blade energy had been, having rged with her attack using [Bladebound]. The movent instantly triggered the [Seismic Slam] from her boots.
Nyria felt her body lurch as her movent speed was cut by 25% for five seconds. Chasing Kael was now impossible. Gritting her teeth, she turned and committed to the fight with Lila.
It was only when they were properly engaged that Lila understood how difficult her opponent was. No matter how she swung her massive greatsword, the tiny Nyria would dodge from an impossible angle. Hitting her was like trying to swat a fly with a sledgehamr.
After taking a hit from Nyria, Lila lost a re 400 health, but a new debuff icon appeared above her health bar.
[Tide Mark]: 1 Stack
[Tide Mark]: 2 Stacks
...
It was a stacking chanic, like a rogue's combo points, ant to be detonated for massive damage. She rembered what had happened to Kael. Four stacks had resulted in four separate instances of 2,000 damage. It had to be Holy Damage, which ignored all defenses.
And the stacks on her were already past five. Nyria still hadn't detonated them.
A cold dread washed over Lila. Is she… trying to one-shot ?
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