Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: The Skill of the First Clear Team's Swordsman
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"Wow! Really? If your body is like this in real life, you must work out a lot. Hah, Beimerung needs to work out more, too."
"Uahaha, what's a young lady like you gonna do with muscles! I just lift some iron when I've got nothing else to do."
While Chris and I cautiously advanced, dealing with the guards around the shortcut, Beimerung followed behind with the bus passenger, chattering endlessly.
"Ah, yes. You can come this way. So you'll need accessories with high damage reduction options?"
"Mm. To hunt the dogs of the Betarion Empire, I need to be tougher. If I get a bus through the elite dungeon early and gear up quickly, I can split anyone who comes at me with my axe, no matter how many there are."
Our first bus passenger was a Dwarf Warrior. He was only a little taller than Beimerung.
He could have customized a younger face, but many players who chose the Dwarf race didn't bother with facial customization.
Dwarf Warriors, born with a natural warrior's constitution, had lower agility but higher strength and HP.
With their subduing skills, Dwarf Warriors mainly shone in PvP. They were a common sight if you secretly watched the faction battles in the Roselia Forest.
I'd heard that taller people in real life usually played tall Human Warriors, while shorter people chose Dwarf Warriors to take advantage of the higher HP.
I couldn't help but feel out of my league as I listened to Beimerung's rapid-fire customer service rap.
Wow, do bus drivers have to keep their middle-aged customers happy, too?
As if she saw my disgusted expression, Chris, who was walking beside me, chuckled.
"You don't have to go that far. But if the customer is in a good mood, they might do multiple runs at once or become a regular. And Beimerung's really good at being friendly."
"This is a tough business..."
Fortunately, since Beimerung stuck close to the customer and did all the talking, the conversational sparks didn't fly my way.
After clearing the path for our passenger, we arrived in front of the first Named. There, Beimerung gave the customer some instructions.
"You can pay the bus fee after we kill the first Named. If you want to watch, see this space between the tents? You can watch from here."
The Dwarf Warrior smiled brightly and sat down in the space between the tents.
Leaving the cheerful Dwarf Warrior behind, the three bus drivers briefly discussed tactics in front of the Named's combat area.
"Beimerung and I will each take two elite soldiers. Rain, you just focus on the Named. We'll join in after we've dealt with all the elites."
"Okay."
"For the special phase, we'll use the Freezing Prison skill for the first hit, and for the follow-up, we'll each use a backward dodge to survive on our own. You can do that, right? Did your party use two party protection skills, Rain?"
Freezing Prison?
I tilted my head, having never heard the skill name before.
Since I didn't do party play, I wasn't familiar with the skills of other classes. All I knew was what I'd seen from watching other classes hunt in the field or secretly observing group fights between hardcore players in the Roselia Forest PvP zone.
Anyway, it seemed the first area-of-effect attack could be blocked by a Mage skill without needing to dodge.
Then I guess I don't need to leave one elite soldier alive.
I looked up at Chris and nodded.
"I'll try."
"I'm sure you'll have no problem, Rain."
For some reason, Chris seemed to have boundless faith in me.
[Level 33 Forward Base Adjutant Kraksas]
[HP 2,050,410 / 3,000,000]
*CRASH!*
"Alright! This side is clear!"
"Beimerung just got both of hers, too! Oh, huh? The boss's HP?"
I had no idea it would be this easy not having to deal with the elite soldiers and the boss at the same time!
Excited, I continuously unleashed Starlight Slashes, chipping away at the boss's HP.
"Rain! Stop DPS! Stop! The special phase is coming!"
"Ah, okay!"
I sheathed my sword and put a little distance between myself and the boss.
"Grr, you wretched worms!"
Once Beimerung and Chris finished preparing for the special phase and brought Kraksas's HP below two-thirds, he immediately entered it.
*Wooooong.*
Kraksas floated into the air, and a powerful demonic energy began to concentrate in his hands.
*KWAAAAA!*
It shot straight down toward our party.
"Now!"
With a cracking sound, my body froze over.
*KWAAAAANG!*
"Oh."
So this is the 'Freezing Prison' skill.
Thanks to the party protection skill cast by Beimerung, I was able to block the attack without using an invincibility skill.
Party play is more convenient than I thought.
For the follow-up attack, all three of us used a backward dodge and took no damage.
Chris and Beimerung immediately focused on the four newly respawned elite soldiers. I took on Kraksas, who had landed on the ground.
"Kuaaaargh!"
After getting through the second phase in the same way, Kraksas soon fell, leaving behind an item box.
"Okay, first Named cleared!"
"Hmm."
Chris was looking at me with a peculiar expression.
But it was only for a moment. She soon walked over to me, smiled brightly, and held out her palm.
"Good job, Rain."
*Tap.*
I hesitated for a moment before tapping my palm against hers.
[Level 33 Quartermaster Galloban]
[HP 149,366 / 2,610,000]
*Swish-swish-swish!*
Now, I only needed to block the final hit of Galloban's combo pattern.
Galloban's minor attacks didn't do much damage to my character, who had finished farming the Forward Base.
I felt a slight pain each time his dagger grazed my body, but it was nothing that the lifesteal from my Echo Stone couldn't heal. It wasn't enough to make me flinch and block.
"I've parked the orb! But I think he's about to go down!"
"Okay, I'll push through with damage!"
*CRASH! KABOOM!*
"Kaaargh!"
His HP depleted, Galloban collapsed onto the kitchen floor.
"Oho, 12% critical damage reduction! Is this max stats?"
"Wow, congratulations, sir! 12% crit damage reduction is max stats!"
"Uhahat! I got one of the things I wanted!"
As I watched the happy customer checking his new item and Beimerung celebrating alongside him, I swung a few Starlight Slashes into the air.
Indeed, when I focused purely on damage without performing tactics, a Swordsman's firepower was considerable.
But there was a condition.
[Block (A)]
- Blocks attacks from a 180-degree angle in front of you.
- (A-Rank) Successfully blocking within 0.2 seconds of skill use grants the 'Vigor' buff, increasing all damage for 10 seconds.
The 'Vigor' buff from a successful just guard within 0.2 seconds. That was the key.
As long as I could consistently maintain this Vigor buff, a Swordsman's damage could pierce the heavens.
A class structure where your damage increases by continuously responding to attacks. A character made for heavenly tanking.
"Hmm!"
[Level 33 Forward Base Captain Zarkan]
[HP 3,180,607 / 3,300,000]
"Khahat! You're good at running!"
*Boom, boom, boom!*
"Oh."
I was watching a ranged DPS tank Zarkan.
Zarkan didn't immediately close in on distant targets, instead launching massive demonic energy projectiles. Chris was just barely dodging the blast radius of those projectiles while continuously throwing her talismans.
*Fwip-fwip-fwip!*
After the four-projectile pattern ended, Zarkan fired a wide-area barrage of smaller projectiles toward Chris.
Chris moved out of the barrage's radius and closed in on Zarkan, trying to bait his close-range pattern, the jumping projectile volley.
*KA-BOOM!*
As soon as Chris got close, Zarkan leaped into the air and rained down projectiles on her head.
*Tat!*
Chris immediately used a backward dodge to create distance. She landed at the point farthest from Zarkan's anticipated landing spot.
*Boom, boom, boom!*
Zarkan immediately returned to his four-projectile pattern.
"So this is how a ranged DPS tanks Zarkan."
Her red hair flying, a smile on her face, Chris continuously threw her talismans.
Even from a slight distance, I felt like I could see her eyelashes.
Her eyes had a slight bluish tint. Was that from customization?
Her face, a harmonious blend of Eastern and Western beauty, was one anyone would fall for.
As she moved, glimpses of her skin could be seen through the openings at her waist.
I stared blankly at the sight.
As expected, when a pretty person does something, it looks like a work of art.
"Alright! I think I've built up enough aggro. Beimerung and Rain, you can start dealing damage now!"
"Okay!"
"Y-Yes!"
I hastily drew my sword.
This was the ranged tank's initial engagement tactic. The process of dealing enough damage first to prevent the aggro from shifting.
One downside was that during that four-projectile pattern, I couldn't get the Vigor buff from 'Block'. Without a Swordsman tanking, the Vigor buff would fall off, and my damage output wouldn't be satisfying.
I unleashed Starlight Slashes on Zarkan, whose attention was fixed on Chris, and pondered how to increase my damage.
*Fwip-fwip-fwip!*
The small projectile barrage that came after the four large ones. I think I can block this.
*Clang!*
"Oh."
The just guard from a successful block within 0.2 seconds activated, and the light of the Vigor buff enveloped my body.
As expected, I could use this pattern.
I gleefully unleashed Starlight Slashes, renewing the Vigor buff every ten seconds. Not long after, Zarkan's gaze, which had been fixed on Chris, turned to me.
"Grr, you annoying little fry!"
"!?"
*KWA-KWA-KWA-KWANG!*
Zarkan suddenly jumped and rained a volley of projectiles down on my head. I hastily used my backward dodge. Zarkan's aggro had switched to me.
Chris shouted at me urgently.
"R-Rain! Ease up on the DPS!"
"Ah, okay!"
I lowered my stance and focused on handling the pattern. A few seconds later, Zarkan started launching massive projectiles at Chris again.
Wow, that startled me.
There's more to keep track of in party play than I thought.
"Uhaha! You guys clear this place incredibly fast!"
"It was nothing! Did you get a lot of the items you wanted?"
"I got one ring with max stats, but I need to collect coins anyway. May I use your service again next time? As a PvP player, banging my head against dungeons isn't really my thing."
"You're welcome anytime! Thank you for today!"
The Dwarf Warrior used our bus service for ten full runs. The customer, thoroughly satisfied with the comfortable and speedy service, was seen off by Beimerung before leaving the dungeon.
"Woooow...!"
I checked the gold I received and smiled brightly.
The Zarkan bus was an excellent farming method for wealthy PvP players and a welcome source of income for a commoner like me.
The income was significantly higher than selling weapons that had lost their novelty. The bus service seemed like it could be a continuous source of gold, even if it wasn't the very beginning of the dungeon's opening.
What if I solo farmed on the first day, and then ran a bus service a few days later?
Chris, who had approached me at some point, saw my expression and chuckled.
"What do you think? The bus pays well, right? I'm not in urgent need of gold, but I'm planning to run the bus with our juniors from time to time to help them earn some."
I barely managed to calm my bouncing heart and looked up at Chris.
Chris seemed to be hesitating, her hand twitching.
*Squeeze.*
I had a favor to ask, so I gently took her wandering hand.
"Ehehe!? Ehe!"
Chris's beautiful face turned foolish, and strange noises escaped her mouth.
I made my intentions clear to Chris.
"Uhm, can I join you sometimes when there's an empty spot?"
If the money was this good. Very rarely, maybe it would be okay.
I think it would be fine if I was with Chris.
***
Today's Zarkan bus service was over.
Rain gave Chris a little wave and then disappeared from the rocky mountain area.
Chris smiled giddily as she saw Rain off.
"Unni, your expression has been something else for a while now..."
"Rain's hand was so, so soft... Ugh! This damn synchronization rate! Aah...! I wonder what it would feel like to touch her in real life...?"
Beimerung put a little distance between herself and the idiotic Chris.
"You know you can't with minors, right...?"
"A-Ahem. What are you talking about? I told you it's not like that."
Chris cleared her throat and chided Beimerung before her expression hardened.
"What did you notice?"
"If we posted a video of Rain running the dungeon, I think she'd get a ton of fans. She's like a picture-perfect painting, isn't she?"
"Pretty and cute... she's no joke, right? B-But besides that!"
"Her damage output is insane. Higher than a mage who's free-casting. Usually, tanks are so busy handling patterns that the DPS have to control their damage, right? If that's the true damage of a Swordsman, the DPS tier list would have to be completely redone."
"At the first Named, while we were dealing with the four elites, she took down the boss's HP to just before the special phase all by herself."
"Even with the third Named, you hit it for a minute first, and she still pulled aggro."
"And the 'evade' prompt never shows up. Since she has a small character customization, her agility should be high, but I never once saw the boss evade Rain's attacks. Even Rangers, whose main stat is agility, get evade prompts sometimes."
"Her ability to handle patterns, even multiple at once, is beyond imagination. Did you see her dealing damage to Zarkan while kiting two chimeras? You told me just to watch, so I barely held myself back. Otherwise, I would've been shaking her by the shoulders asking how she did it."
"I mean, we didn't see her make a single mistake during all ten runs."
"And we have to compete with *that*? Hah, Beimerung's not feeling too confident."
"So this is the skill of Rain, the Swordsman from the first-clear party, 'No Name'."
Rain. The silver-haired girl swordsman.
Behind her cute appearance hid an outrageous level of skill.