Ten days ago, on the Thaloria server, Nyria’s completion of a hidden quest—the "Ancient Ritual of Tydrisa"—kicked off the Hundred-Guild Survival Gauntlet server-wide.
After a week of brutal competition, the guild led by Nyria clinched first place, earning all 300 of its mbers a full set of Ascendant-tier gear. The second and third-place spots were snatched up by guilds from the House Myrden faction; in fact, six of the top ten guilds belonged to them.
Additionally, all of the top fifty guilds received several [Tydrisa’s Quarry] Hidden Realm scrolls as a reward.
But Nyria herself received sothing far greater, an item of true legacy:
[Tydrisa Bloodline]
Long before the founding of the Thaloria Empire, there lived a demigoddess nad Bylgja, the youngest daughter of Raegir, Lord of the Flas Beneath.
Bylgja sought to defy the sea that had drowned her people. She wove mountains of coral and poured rivers of molten stone into the abyss, vowing to reclaim the world from the ocean’s grasp.
But the Sea fought back. The tides rose higher than mountains, and Bylgja was swallowed whole. Yet even in death, her hatred did not fade. Her spirit rged with the ocean itself, becoming Tydrisa—the Tideborn Queen, mistress of the drowned and forgotten.
Her blood turned the waters crimson, and from that essence was born the Tydrisa Bloodline—those who inherit her defiance, her hunger, and her will to master the seas.
Fusing with the Tydrisa Bloodline transford Nyria from a standard [Rogue] into a [Tide Assassin]. Her base skills were all enhanced, but more importantly, she gained a ga-changing new talent and several powerful active abilities.
Her key talent was also nad [Tydrisa Bloodline]. It allowed her to alter her size at will.
Growing larger boosted her constitution, strength, and attack power—perfect for fighting bosses.
Shrinking increased her agility, attack speed, and movent speed—making her a nightmare in PvP.
Working in tandem with this was her new passive, [Tide Mark], whose effects differed based on her size. While shrunken, each of her attacks applied a stack of [Tide Mark] to her target, capping out at ten. The more stacks, the more potent the debuffs and the higher the burst damage.
And the damage type was Holy Damage, which ignored all physical and magical defenses.
Detonating a single mark dealt 1250 damage once.
Detonating two marks dealt 1500 damage twice.
Detonating three marks dealt 1750 damage three tis.
…and so on, all the way up to ten marks, which unleashed a devastating 3500 damage ten tis over.
Nyria's attack speed was insane. If she could just stand and unload on a target, stacking ten marks was a matter of five or six seconds.
In Nyria's eyes, Lila was just a clumsy, lumbering warrior. All she had to do was weave in and out of her reach, and she'd have max stacks in no ti. Once the debuffs—slows, attack speed reduction, damage reduction—kicked in, the kill would be guaranteed.
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Nyria watched the debuff icons pile up on Lila's status bar, counting silently.
One stack, two, three, four, five…
Almost at ten.
Suddenly, Lila lifted Dragonbane and swung it three tis at empty air.
Nyria watched the supposed "number one player from Earth" flailing like a madwoman and sneered internally. So "number one warrior." What a joke.
But when her eyes flicked back to Lila's status bar, a jolt of shock went through her.
Where did my [Tide Mark] stacks go?!
In that split second of confusion, she saw Lila charging, shoulder first. Nyria instinctively leaped back, dodging out of the direct path of the charge. As Lila thundered past, Nyria let out a small sigh of relief.
Before she could fully recover, Lila stomped her foot hard on the ground.
BOOM!
A notification popped up: movent speed was cut by 25%.
She whirled around just in ti to see Lila beco a blur, her body and Dragonbane rging into one as she flew towards her. Even with the slow, Nyria’s shrunken form was agile enough to dodge again, sidestepping the attack.
But the mont Lila landed, another shockwave erupted from her stomp.
BOOM!
Nyria’s movent speed was cut by another 25%.
This ti, when Nyria tried to move, she realized she was in serious trouble.
The movent speed slow from the [Seismic Slam] ability of Lila's [Inferno Striders]... it stacked.
0.75×0.75=0.5625
She was down to just over half her normal speed. Dodging was no longer an option.
Watching Lila’s greatsword carve through the air towards her, Nyria gritted her teeth and activated her primary defensive cooldown, [Tidal Magic Shield]. The shimring barrier not only boosted her resistances but, more importantly, purged the slow effect. Instantly, she hopped back several tis, creating distance between them.
Lila didn't pursue. She just stood there, watching her.
At that mont, the sa thought crossed both their minds.
She's tough.
Neither made a move, both waiting for their cooldowns. Nyria had two defensive abilities; she'd already burned one. The other had a much longer cooldown, and she didn't want to reveal it unless absolutely necessary. Lila, having used two of her mobility skills in quick succession, knew that one gap-closer alone wasn't enough to secure a kill.
Twenty seconds later, the tense duel resud.
Nyria no longer got greedy, detonating her [Tide Marks] after just two or three stacks. Lila, in turn, held onto her own abilities, saving them to counter the higher-stacked marks with resistance buffs. Whenever her three mobility skills—[Blazing Charge], [Earthshatter], and [Dragon Slash]—were off cooldown, she would unleash a vicious combo, trying to one-shot Nyria. Nyria remained vigilant, always ready with her remaining defensive cooldown to create distance and reset.
Strictly speaking, Lila was at a slight disadvantage. Nyria’s sustained damage was significant, dishing out four or five thousand damage with every short combo. The problem was Lila’s health pool, which was just too massive—a whopping 90,000 HP.
On top of that, she had potions that healed for 20,000, making it nearly impossible for Nyria to burst her down.
Conversely, Lila's damage output was terrifyingly high. A single mistake, a single mont of distraction from Nyria, would an an instant death.
Lila was burning through her potions, while Nyria’s focus was stretched to its absolute limit.
It was impossible to tell who would break first.
They danced this way for what felt like an eternity, trading blows and cooldowns.
The first crack in the stalemate appeared in Lila’s health bar. Nyria noticed that Lila's 20,000 HP potions had been replaced by 15,000 HP ones. Because of the global cooldown, she wasn't even healing back to full anymore.
A wave of elation washed over Nyria.
First blood is mine, Lila!
She pressed her advantage, her attacks growing more aggressive. Lila’s health bar steadily dropped. As player levels increased, the cooldowns on high-tier potions grew longer. A 15,000 HP potion now had a 30-second cooldown, a window in which Nyria could deal seventeen or eighteen thousand damage.
A sinister grin spread across her face. "Your ti is up, Lila!"
Panic began to set in for Lila, but there was nothing she could do. Her opponent was the perfect counter to a physical damage dealer. As her health dipped below fifty percent, she could only watch in frustration.
Just as Lila’s hope began to fade, the sky above them suddenly darkened.
She snapped her head up, and a look of pure, unadulterated joy washed over her face.
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