MM - Chapter 112 - FINGERING SOME DEMONS

- Caves of Quindimire - 

- Seconds ago -

Knowing that a shitstorm was coming, Raine was far from idle while the giant eye revealed itself and the demons were summoned. Not yet in combat, he opened his skill store, fingers flying in a blur. He bought Guardians Comfort and Guardians Armament, then upgraded both to beginner grade for a total of five thousand Attunement.

[Guardians Comfort: (Novice > Beginner) Buff an ally within 10 meters for 5 minutes. Increases Resistance by 50 + 10% maximum CP (Cost: 40 > 30 CP) (Cooldown: 5 minutes)]

[Guardians Armament: (Novice > Beginner) Buff an ally within 10 meters for 5 minutes. Increases damage by 50 + 10% maximum CP (Cost: 40 > 30 CP) (Cooldown: 5 minutes)]

With a hair over fifty thousand Attunement remaining in his pool, he was far from done. There was no time for mental math, so he upgraded his existing skills in order of importance. Lunge came first; its reduced cost and increased maneuverability would be a key element that may allow for his survival.

[Lunge: (Beginner > Adept) Ignoring momentum and inertia, accelerate to 100% > 125% maximum speed in a chosen direction (Cost: 4.5 > 4 Discipline)]

Next were his two primary attack skills, each costing twenty-five thousand Attunement to raise a single grade.

[Great Divide: (Beginner > Adept) With any melee slashing weapon, rend the ground in an 11 x 3.2 > 15 x 3.5-meter column AOE. Deals 2250% > 2500% physical damage at the expense of 4.5% > 4% weapon durability (Cost: 26 > 22 Discipline) (Cooldown: 26 > 22 seconds)]

[Rupture: (Adept > Expert) Strike the air to reduce enemy defense by 40% > 45% for 10 > 12 seconds. Additionally releases a shock wave dealing 500% > 750% damage in a 5 > 5.5 meter expanding cone (Cost: 10 Discipline) (Cooldown: 15 seconds)]

The eyeball appeared moments after his Attunement pool bottomed out at a mere five hundred. During that time, Raine swapped his title and rehearsed his opening battle plan.

[One Man Army: (Title) (Non-upgradable) Immune to Control effects while fighting multiple opponents]

Raine’s bloodlust soared to meet the Gaze of Malefaction's killing intent. He barely pushed back enough to coat his skin, holding off the nasty debuff that would have spelled his doom. As the demons began to manifest, Raine started the first phase of his plan to survive. 90 of his 280 Celestial Power vanished in a blink. Guardians Embrace, Guardians Comfort, and Guardians Armament shimmered over his skin in rapid succession.

[Guardians Embrace: (Beginner) Buff an ally within 10 meters for 5 minutes. Increases Defense by 50 + 10% maximum CP (Cost: 30 CP) (Cooldown: 5 minutes)]

His Defense rose to 464, Resistance to 380, and Attack Power to 530. He wasn’t done. Accessing his inventory, Raine munched on a Stremph Berry and washed it down with a potion he'd bought all the way back in Dry Canyon Town to face the succubus lair.

[Stremph Berry: (Common Grey) +5 Potency and Discipline for 15 minutes. Effect fades automatically after combat ends (Cooldown: 30 minutes)]

[Minor Demonic Protection Potion: (Common Grey) Boosts Defense and Resistance against demonic abilities for 2 hours (15-minute shared potion cooldown)]

As more demons than he could see or count appeared around him, Raine promptly turned toward his group. Beyond them was the giant eyeball. He raised a hand, granting it a glorious middle-finger salute. Two hundred Elemental Power was sucked from his core in a whoosh. It flowed down his arm and into his hand, then gushed through a metal chain into a shimmering metal band around his raised finger. 

He mentally commanded the skill's AOE with exacting precision, and the ring shone with a brilliant sheen of multi-colored energy. The ground rumbled in response to his call as the Elemental Finger was unleashed.

Raine aimed directly behind his allies. In a fifteen-meter radius on the other side of the group, the ground split, creating the outline of a circle. Then the land heaved, shooting into the air, forming a tower of demonic rock and soil that rose and rose and rose.

The demons spawned inside the circle went right up into the sky along with the ground they stood upon. On the way up, bubbling jets of water shot from the dirt, cutting apart their feet and dousing them in moisture. Halfway to the suddenly blooming dark clouds, black thunder was unleashed in cascading waves. The doused demons had little defense against the barrage of lightning, and each strike released incredible heat that cooked their tough skin. Just when it appeared the skill had run its course, the evaporated moisture was sucked into a thousand shards of deadly ice that lanced into the demons.

[Fraction of Elemental Might: (Elemental Power +20%) (CNC +20%) Upon command unleash the Elemental Finger dealing 2500% elemental damage in a 15-meter tower AOE (Cost: 200 EP) (Cooldown: 5 minutes)]

Watching the unimaginable devastation above, the stealthed players forevermore cemented a resolution in their hearts to continue following Raine. Talerra was certainly no exception. There would never again be any doubt that allying with him had been the best choice she ever made.

Raine wished he had time to watch Elemental Finger for the first time. Unfortunately, he was forced to turn away the moment he cast it. He swapped fractions and kicked away from the party, directly into the waiting horde of demons.

[Fraction of Solidity: (PTC +20%) (PHY +20%) Upon command personify the sturdiness of the Unassailable Aegis preventing all damage and negative effects for 5 seconds (Cost: 40% of maximum health) (Cooldown: 5 minutes)]

Unable to swap fractions again for ten minutes, Raine could only hope he’d made the right choice. Even with all his advantages, surviving that long would be a miracle. Arrayed in a tight circle around him, demons of various sizes and races loomed large. Their fiery eyes blazed with hostility; crude weapons, claws, and misshapen limbs reared back, ready to strike with great Potency.

The nearest didn’t need time to prepare; its central body was that of a house-sized frog with tens of long, multi-jointed legs. Each limb was several meters long, and fifteen of them struck at Raine before his feet hit the ground.

[Lesser JarGhaap (Raid Elite) Level 25 (HP 62,500/62,500) A youthful offspring of Jar Man Ghaap, son of Bahael Ghaap. Slow multi-limbed entity capable of unleashing a devastating quantity of attacks in a limited area]

The legs crashed into Raine, and he let them come. The blows were a laughably soft pummeling. [-3] [-2] [-3] The average nightmare raid elite at level 25 had a hefty Attack Power of 550. With his current Defense of 495, the bonus from the potion, and a slight boost from his celestial defenses, they were barely unable to break through to deal real damage. Unfortunately, Raine’s Resistance dropped to 343 after swapping fractions, so the Powered Blast that sliced into his back hurt like hell. [-85]

Raine landed, already swinging his greataxe in an underhanded arc toward the nasty caster that had flown down to shoot him in the back.

[Lesser NemaGhaap (Raid Elite): Level 25 (HP 62,500/62,500) A youthful offspring of Nema Fuhn Ghaap, son of Bahael Ghaap. Winged demon that unleashes devastating fire from medium range]

The nemaghaap had a worm-like body with four claw-tipped legs and two wings. Its circular mouth, ringed by sharp fangs, was still wide open after spitting a hunk of burning goop. It landed from its dive and immediately hopped back into the air with a mighty flap of its leathery wings. 

The powerful gusts of wind kicked up some dust but failed to hinder Great Divide. Streams of powerful energy tore from the ground and raced up to slice through its airborne body. Its wings were instantly shredded. Chunks of skin and flesh were wiped from existence, and the monster couldn’t even bring itself to scream with the pain that wracked its form. [Critical hit! -56k]

[Spine Splitter Greataxe: Durability -8]

The celestial origins of Guardians Armament meant his attacks and skills dealt minor bonus damage to demons. Yet still, it failed to die from Raine’s strongest ability. The demon was far from alone in its suffering. Great Divide tore into a dozen others beneath it, eliciting the kind of rage that only a monster could fathom. In response, they dove at Raine, piling atop him, each determined to be the one to end his life.

There were only three reasons why they failed. First, on average, the demons were triple his size, which made getting to him impossible without first going through their fellows. That only stopped so many, as most didn't mind what kind of flesh they tore apart, just that something was bleeding beneath their claws and horns.

The second reason was related to the first. The size of the nearest demons made gaining line of sight on him an impossibility. If all the nemaghaaps could see him, he would have taken a thousand Demonic Powered Blasts in the opening seconds and instantly died.

Most important and most counterintuitive was the demons’ high intelligence. With reason comes shrewdness, and with shrewdness, hubris. Even the demons that could see Raine did not all attack at once. Why would they? He was nothing more than a puny, insignificant mortal. Even if the lesser demons didn't deal with him, there would be plenty of time to show the insufferable interloper how foolish it was to stand before Bahael Ghaap's horde.

Knowing all this, Raine allowed himself to be dogpiled. They ate into his health with a steady stream of physical attacks. A combination of Potency, Connection, and One Man Army’s immunity to control effects allowed him to keep his footing despite the overbearing weight pressing down on him. With his greataxe held close in a two-handed death grip, he chipped away at the health of whichever demon happened to throw itself in front of his blade. 

Each regular hit dealt between one and two thousand damage. Raine held onto his limited Discipline reserves, only using Rupture on cooldown. The first use managed to clip several demons he’d weakened with Great Divide, reaping his first kills. [-7.8k] [Critical hit! -15.6k]

[Obtained 36,000 Raid Superiority (650% bonus for defeating a raid elite 3 levels above you)]

[Obtained 26.25% Raid Attunement (650% bonus for defeating a raid elite 3 levels above you)]

Needing a whopping thirty-seven point five million Superiority to level himself and both growth weapons, the five kills were barely a drop in the bucket. The battle turned into a slog against time. Raine only bought three of the demonic protection potions, and there was no way he could afford to use all of them in the first area. Which meant he needed to clear out enough of these weaker demons in two hours so that the remainder wouldn’t be able to finish him off. 

Of course, there was no way the hierarch hovering high in the sky would let him get away with such an ‘easy’ victory. With another languid blink, an infusion of vile energies swarmed into each and every demon. Their muscles bulged, and their speed ratcheted higher. The blows raining down on him went from soft, playful punches to grunt-inducing impacts. [-14] [-15] [-14]

Due to the sheer quantity of attacks, Raine’s 2,369 health plummeted by a quarter in fifteen short seconds. He released another Rupture, then continued hacking away at the nearest monsters. Thankfully, he wasn’t dealing enough overkill damage to annihilate their corpses. The pile of bodies acted as cover, drastically reducing the number of hits he took.

Still, it was impossible to see anything, and only his HUD revealing that his group was still alive gave him any semblance of relief. He let his health fall into the orange, and Greater Werewolf’s Regeneration went to work, restoring chunks of HP every five seconds. [+237]

Watching his health bounce up and down, roughly maintaining itself without additional Celestial Power, once again proved that prioritizing the aspect had been a fantastic choice. The fact all his various bonuses, buffs, foresight, and skills were allowing him to survive such a hellish nightmare was sheer lunacy in Raine’s opinion, but he wasn’t going to complain.

Time passed in a pain-fueled daze. Raine kept track by watching his buff timers. With precisely 140 total Connection, his Celestial Power regeneration was 4.6 every 30 seconds. By the end of the first five minutes, he recovered a total of 46. Unfortunately, if he recast his defensive skills on cooldown, he would find himself out of Celestial Power long before the last demons died. Obviously, that would result in a bloody end to his life in the Silvergate Kingdom.

Since he was still dogpiled and unable to be targeted by the ranged nemaghaaps, Raine took a risk and only renewed Guardians Protection. Connection’s force propulsion helped him push through enough flesh to activate another Great Divide. The arc was hella awkward in his current predicament, but worth the risk. A dozen more demons died, further developing the heaping walls of bodies he could use as cover.

Five minutes later, he swapped to Guardians Comfort since the damage he was taking had reduced significantly. Seconds later, a particular demon grew tired of watching the lesser kin throwing their lives away with little effect. A huge fist reached through the mound of corpses behind Raine, and rocky fingers circled his body. He Lunged straight up to escape, but it was too late. The huge fist clamped around all of him but his head. Raine only had a fraction of a second to consider his options before he was dragged high into the open air.

Looking at his new foe caused Raine’s blood to boil with a heady mixture of fear and excitement. The monstrosity was taller and broader than a ten-story building. It was the most massive enemy he’d faced yet, looking like a weathered statue of volcanic rock come to life. An overpowering wave of bloodlust blasted into Raine when it opened its mouth and roared in his face.

[Greater Rahk Glahm (Raid Noble): Level 30 (HP 643,000/643,000) A race of giant rahk demons from the southern steppes of Marakan that were personally corrupted by Bahael Ghaap. These demons employ incredible strength capable of assaulting enemy fortifications]

Not only was it huge, but the rahk glahm’s killing intent was exactly as expected of a raid noble. Raine did his best to prepare his people for what was coming. Now, it was his turn to experience ZionLine’s considerable wrath. The combination of the glahm’s killing intent, and the boss’s, was too much. They painfully ripped through Raine’s defenses, turning his attributes to dust in the wind.

[Negative affliction received (Enfearment): All attributes reduced by 25%]

[Negative affliction received (Greater Enfearment): All attributes reduced by 50%]

As if having his attributes reduced to forty percent and being trapped in a horse-sized fist weren’t bad enough, Raine’s position left him entirely vulnerable to the hundreds of flying nemaghaaps hovering above the battlefield. Their furious gazes swiveled to his protruding head. As one, they unleashed a truly deadly barrage of Powered Blasts.