Chapter 13: Mr. Back Attack
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 13: Mr. Back Attack
[Your turn.]
[Action Points: ■■■■]
The hourglass lit up.
I’d expected this, but experiencing it firsthand was a real headache.
I’m talking about Mr. Back Attack.
The moment the battle started, he vanished, and the hourglass activated automatically.
It was the same as when the goblin tried to slit my throat right after I entered the Labyrinth, and when Yernil stepped on a trap.
It meant I was in mortal danger.
And I couldn't even see him.
“Hoo.”
When I played the game, I saw everything in quarter-view, so I never realized. Is this what it feels like in first-person?
He’s probably behind me, right?
What kind of skills would a rogue like Back Attack have learned?
For the past two days, I had simulated this fight in my head over and over.
First, there was one skill I was 100% certain he had: ‘Leaping Ambush.’
The same technique the beastman rogue, Jikal, had used.
A skill that lets you turn into mist and teleport behind an opponent to stab them in the back. Back Attack must have used it, which is why he disappeared from my sight and my hourglass activated.
I knew he’d use this as his opening move.
In the game, if there’s an archer and a wizard on the enemy team, a rogue always targets the wizard first. And if they’re in range, they always open with Leaping Ambush.
It closes the distance, gets them behind their target, and only costs one action point, all while saving a long-range mobility skill like ‘Shadow Leap.’
Of course he’d use it first.
Besides, the guy’s name is literally Back Attack.
“Lightning Shock.”
[Action Points: ■■■□]
That’s why I had my right hand tucked under my left armpit from the very beginning. I’d positioned the wand to be aimed behind me from the start.
While waiting for the cooldown, I chanted frantically.
“Lightning Shock!”
Back when I fought the goblin, its blade had grazed my neck, but my Fireball was much faster and managed to blow it away.
“Lightning Shock!”
Lightning Shock is an instant-cast skill, far faster than Fireball. Your dagger won’t cut my throat. You’ll just get hit by four consecutive bolts of lightning.
“Yernil.”
I had already given Yernil her instructions for what to do next.
“The moment he collapses from the shock, douse him with the water from the oak barrel!”
Die, you bastard!
“Lightning Shock!”
[All Action Points have been consumed.]
[Ending turn.]
[The hourglass has flipped again. Cooldown: 60 seconds.]
*
Boom! Pow-pow-pow!
Four bolts of Lightning Shock shot out from behind my back.
Then, the chilling sensation of a dagger grazing the nape of my neck and the sound of the Black Hornet’s eggshell scraping away.
“Keuk.”
Mr. Back Attack collapsed, afflicted with the electrocuted status effect.
The shock wouldn’t last long. In the game, it only incapacitated you for one turn; here, it was just for a moment. I’d seen it happen with the bald guy.
But a single moment was enough. If his legs gave out and he fell, it was over.
Splaash!
Yernil tilted the oak barrel, pouring a stream of water over Mr. Back Attack’s head.
You’re ‘Soaked’ now. And…
“Ice Lance!”
I quickly began chanting a freezing spell. But…
“He’s gone!”
Back Attack suddenly vanished, and my Ice Lance shattered against the floor.
“Even better! Yernil! How much water is left?”
His disappearance meant he’d used Shadow Leap. He must have had no other choice.
I saw Mr. Back Attack reappear about twenty meters ahead.
Now he was out of Leaping Ambush and Shadow Leap. I had successfully baited out both of his teleport skills.
“There’s still a lot! Over 80%!”
“Pour it all out in front of us!”
“Okay!”
Yernil heaved the oak barrel with all her might, turning a wide area in front of us into a puddle. I aimed my wand at it again.
White frost slowly gathered at the tip of the wand. Ice Lance had a five-second cooldown, just like Fireball. Two seconds, one second…
Tatatak!
With all his leaping skills gone, Back Attack started running straight at us.
“Ice Lance!”
The freezing magic created a massive icy path between him and us.
“It worked!” Yernil shouted, having already equipped her bow.
Alright, Back Attack. What are you going to do now?
Unless you came wearing crampons, you’re not going to have an easy time running on this ice. And if you slip even once, you’ll be frozen solid since you’re already soaked.
He’ll probably take careful steps, or run along the wall.
“C-Caleb. The back of the eggshell is completely shattered…” Yernil said from behind me, her voice trembling with fear.
A moment ago, along with my Lightning Shock, Back Attack’s dagger had missed my neck and torn the back of the shell to shreds instead.
I know.
I can feel the wind blowing through it.
This thing is supposed to be incredibly tough, but he wrecked it in one hit. His damage output is insane…
Thwack!
A magic dagger suddenly flew through the air and embedded itself in my chest.
Fuck, that scared me.
A skill: Magic Dagger Toss.
Now the front is wrecked, too.
But to use that instead of careful steps or wall-running…
That was a misplay, Back Attack! If I were you, I wouldn’t have thrown my dagger from that distance.
“Caleb!”
“I’m fine! It didn’t pierce me!”
My character customization was perfect. If I had designed a sturdier physique, the tip of the blade would have sunk into my chest.
But I blocked it this time, too!
Flick!
With a flick of his wrist, the dagger was summoned back to Mr. Back Attack’s hand, and he…
Poof!
He vanished. If this were a game, a message would have popped up: [Invisibility].
I was expecting this.
“Yernil!”
I roared the name of the King-God-Emperor sound-mapper like a magic incantation and aimed my wand at the caterpillar.
“Ice Lance!”
“Kieek!”
I quickly blew up the caterpillar, and then…
Tadadadak!
I whipped my head toward the sound coming from the wall. Wall-running!
Yernil was already firing an arrow in that direction.
Clang!
Mr. Back Attack deflected Yernil’s arrow, breaking his invisibility.
As he dropped from the wall, flipping in mid-air, his hand moved to his waist, pushing aside his cloak.
Toward the grenade on his belt.
This was what I was waiting for!
You won’t get to throw that.
I quickly raised my wand to eye level and closed my left eye.
[Your turn. Time remaining: 60 seconds.]
[Action Points: ■■]
I flipped the hourglass.
*
My unique ability, ‘Momentum of Slaughter.’
In the game, it restored two action points upon killing an enemy.
Now that the game had become reality, it was slightly different. The description I saw in my dream was as follows:
[Unique Ability]
▶ Momentum of Slaughter
- Upon killing an enemy, you acquire a temporary hourglass worth 2 Action Points that lasts for 60 seconds. This hourglass must be activated manually. This ability can only be used once per battle.
I had kept that caterpillar alive all this way, sharing my bacon with it, just to use this.
Now that I had finally activated the temporary hourglass, what was my posture?
It was similar to a pistol shooting stance.
I had quickly dropped the Ice Lance wand in my left hand and raised the Lightning Shock wand to eye level. My right arm was extended straight forward, with my left arm supporting my right wrist.
My head was tilted slightly onto my right shoulder, and my left eye was closed.
This was to perfectly align my right eye’s line of sight with the direction the wand was pointing.
I aimed at Mr. Back Attack’s waist with the pistol-shooting stance you see in the movies.
I have to hit it.
I had put on a magic show with a near-100% accuracy rate against hundreds of goblins, the bald slave team, the Venomic Spider, and even the explosive barrel thrown by the dwarf. But this was different.
The target is a bomb the size of a ping-pong ball, hovering ten meters away!
In the game, how does a duo of an archer and a wizard take down a high-level rogue?
First, you use things like an icy path to control the area and prevent them from approaching easily.
Second, you force the opponent to use up their mobility skills as much as possible. We had already gotten rid of his Leaping Ambush and Shadow Leap.
And third.
You must stop the ‘bomb.’
No matter what insane lengths you have to go to.
Because in higher-difficulty games, getting hit by one of those means an instant party wipe.
In the game, the best strategy is to use mez to prevent them from even thinking about throwing it. If that’s not possible, the next best thing is to stack all sorts of defensive measures to withstand the blast.
The worst option is ‘restart game,’ and that’s not happening.
Unfortunately, we didn’t have the resources for the best or second-best strategies. If we had found some decent defensive scrolls during our two days of farming, maybe.
The tattered eggshell couldn’t block a bomb. And Yernil would probably be in a state where even Soul Preservation couldn’t bring her back.
In the worst-case scenario, I could use my one remaining Magic Armor to save myself, but our chances of winning would plummet.
I have to intercept it mid-air!
I’ll use one action point from the temporary hourglass to make micro-adjustments to my aim, and the other to fire Lightning Shock.
The opponent will start moving the moment my turn ends, but Lightning Shock is an instant-cast skill.
To a negative charge traveling at 100,000 kilometers per second, Mr. Back Attack and his bomb might as well be standing still.
The problem is the angle of the wand!
What if the lightning misses the bomb when I cast it?
I don’t even want to imagine it.
If I’m lucky, the shock might incapacitate him and stop him from throwing the bomb for now, but since my hourglass would be empty, we’d be screwed anyway if he just pulled out another one.
I have to hit it here and end this.
[Your turn. Time remaining: 28 seconds.]
[Action Points: ■□]
“Huuuu…”
I could feel cold sweat trickling down as I made tiny adjustments to the tip of the wand.
This must be what the hero in a disaster movie feels like when he has to cut the red or blue wire to defuse a bomb.
Please, please, please.
Master Jin Jong-oh.
Please, lend me your strength!
“Lightning Shock.”
*
KABOOM!
Flames erupted with a deafening roar.
Shrapnel from the bomb flew into the air and rained down.
“Aah!”
Yernil screamed in shock, while I clenched my fists and let out a cry of triumph.
“I got it!”
Even though I was the one who did it, it was a damn impressive shot.
“Yes!”
The lightning had struck the bomb perfectly, sending Back Attack flying over ten meters in a massive explosion.
My stamina might have sucked when I was in the army, but I was an expert marksman, you bastard!
“Yernil!”
“Yes!”
Through the smoke and flames of the explosion, Yernil’s ears picked up the sound of Back Attack hitting the ground with a thud.
“This way!”
I quickly pulled out the Ice Lance wand, and Yernil grabbed my hand and arm to guide my aim.
“Ice Lance!”
I chanted the spell.
Up to this point, everything had gone so perfectly it was almost a miracle.
So, what about the Ice Lance?
CRASH!
As the smoke cleared, I saw the Ice Lance embedded in the lower abdomen of a staggering Mr. Back Attack.
“It hit!”
To succeed with this, too!
I can see a path to victory.
He doesn’t have many skills left now.
“Keoheok…”
I could see white frost forming around the Ice Lance lodged in Back Attack’s stomach. He was frozen.
The fourth rule for catching a rogue:
Burst damage comes after the mez.
“Yernil!”
I quickly finished my calculations. Back Attack had used all his mobility skills, and even if he tried to dodge with his high agility, the frozen status gave him an evasion penalty.
He has no choice but to take this hit.
“Fire!”
A deadly poison arrow shot forth from Yernil’s bow.