Heresy and Taboo Between (4) - 7: The Guardian Knight's Intimidation

"You piece-of-shit trash that's even worse than the crap smeared all over a sewer— what the fuck makes you look at me like that? I'll rip your goddamn eyes out before you even blink."

I stared at the back of Shae's head with a look of utter shock—for entirely different reasons.

At first, when that so-called guardian knight started yapping, it gave me the same vibe as that time in 1-2 when we got suppressed. I thought, oh shit, we're fucked. It was a sure sign our turn would get deleted and they'd steal first move.

But whether it was the crusader trait or just Shae being Shae, the intimidation-like pressure vanished the moment her cursing ended.

Shae, you crazy bitch!

She was so reliable I wanted to grab her and ruffle her hair right then and there.

Fucking well done! Thank god you're not the enemy! For real!

The formation was Shae in the front row, Kaya in the second, and me in the third when combat began.

The speed check signaling the start of battle popped up, and I swallowed hard.

Me getting first turn wasn't surprising, but seeing this speed check laid bare the glaring weakness in our hero party's composition.

Turtles.

Tanks up front had no choice, but Kaya's class—battle vestal, handling both healing and damage—wore medium armor. And medium armor classes were universally slow as hell.

Even this "turtle" speed of 4 was a miracle, now that I thought about it. Her positive trait nimble movements gave +1, and as a half-elf, she dodged the elf racial penalty for medium armor.

If she didn't have nimble movements and was a full elf...

I wouldn't have picked her in the first place, but her speed would've been 1. Thank god this long-terror speed system wasn't cumulative.

Shae's genius trait and Crusader's Tenacity skill should give her decent speed for a tank.

Especially since the guardian knight's speed was 5—just 1 difference. First turn was unavoidable, but from the second, with luck, Shae could act before it.

Lower HP than the last one we fought, but everything else averages higher.

Analysis done. Only a few seconds had passed in real time, but just staring down the enemy without acting wasn't a good look. Even in the game, lingering too long on your turn without action drained mentality, dimmed the screen, and prolonged fights accelerated the penalty. This was an instance dungeon, but better safe than sorry.

"Time for you to taste the mark too, huh?"

...0?

Start with the mark anyway. But seeing the damage number made me think it had some defense ability—might be tougher than expected.

"Do you even know where you've steppedinto—?!"

Turn passed to the enemy after marking it. But the bastard suddenly roared at us.

Not just a shout—it was a deafening bellow that tore at our eardrums and shook our skulls.

Fuck, an AoE mentality nuke right out the gate? From a goddamn knight?

A sword guy's blasting beams or an archer swinging a blade—didn't matter if you were dishing it, but taking it pissed me off extra.

Plus, no ultimate cooldowns here, so eating a few more barrages could shatter our party's mentality before we knew it.

Shae and Kaya tied for speed, so even allies rolled off. Didn't matter who won.

Why? "Shae!"

"I'll kill you, shred you, grind you, burn you to ash..."

She'd self-buff speed by +1 anyway. Assuming the knight didn't boost its own speed or debuff ours next turn, their speeds would tie while her buff lasted. Win the roll, and Shae keeps going first.

Then Kaya's turn. "Kaya!"

"Yes, Captain."

No choice now—climax time.

"Nngh!"

Yelling orders out loud felt like turning into total garbage, but that wasn't the intent.

Now Kaya's speed hit 5 too. I'd planned to have her swing her mace, but first turn as full buffs it was.

Downside: wasting her 5% instakill shot. But next turn, she'd join speed rolls, bumping our first-move odds from 50% way higher.

It wasn't because I wanted to see Kaya trembling, face flushed red as she gripped her mace and let out that lewd breath. For real.

"Huu..."

My turn again. Normally I'd smash its skull with my axe, but its attack was higher than expected—tricky.

Flashbang for blind?

Nah. Scared of unknown attacks? I could react after seeing the next one. Attack now.

Head Crush had high accuracy—no miss worries.

"Die!"

Tch.

No crit, but solid damage for its defense. Not thrilled, though.

Next turn. Speed roll as planned. We had to win this.

Lose, and 90% of the buff-first-turn plan went to waste.

Best: win both. Acceptable: win one.

And...

"..."

Fuck this luck-based shit game.

Fine. Whatever. Two against one, and we lose both? Not shocking at all.

Guess I'm the idiot for planning around higher odds.

But what can you do? Rolls are pure 100% RNG—no control.

Luck had been good so far. "Fuck..."

The follow-up message confirmed the pattern: grab turn early, fuck us over.

No helping it. Brace for its attack.

"If you won't back down, I'll make you—!"

Whoosh—boom!!

"Urk!"

"Shae!"

The bastard swung its greatsword horizontally at Shae with insane force. She dropped to one knee but held firm. Damage looked like unlucky minimum.

"..."

Shae's counter from the skill effect triggered.

Counter had -40% damage mod, plus high defense. Take the HP recovery and move on.

Shae, unaware of the details, grew even colder-faced at the zero damage.

Even with Shae's top-tier genius trait, she's level 1—stats are baby-level... One attack and her HP's a rag.

Me and Kaya? Forget it. We'd felt that before.

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No, fuck—this difficulty is just bullshit.

We endured anyway. Shae's turn.

She'd taken a big hit holding the line, blood trickling from her mouth. Grind—

Wait, why's her lip all shredded...?

Shae fixed me with her signature chilling blank stare. No hiding it, or no mind to with the heretic in front.

This absolute system forced even this madwoman to follow orders from the hero party's captain—me. For now.

Heal later. Stun now, Shae. Judgment.

The instant my order ended, Shae shot forward like the wind, gathering holy power in her claymore and slamming it down on the knight with mountain-splitting force.

No battle cry, no grunt, no words. Pure intent to crush this vile heretic worshipper in one blow.

Instakill impossible, of course—but it fulfilled its role perfectly.

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"How dare you—! Bring a hypocrite's light against me!"

Damn...

Not bad for 2 damage. Level 1 anyway, and crusaders were tanks at heart without DPS builds.

CC it, tank hits. That's what I wanted from her.

Regrettable, but she'd endure the pain. Me and Kaya would smash its pot.

"Kaya!"

She matched my tempo a bit now, seeming to intuit my intent without orders. She charged full speed, swinging her mace at full power into the knight frozen in light-bound pose.

Boom!!

"Haaah...!"

Kaya gazed at me, flushed and gripping her mace—battle high or climax effect? Fuck, Kaya, you're so ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠goddamn sexy right now!

I gave her a thumbs up.