MM - Chapter 36 - STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU

Raine burned a point of Discipline to grab the dropped coins. There wasn’t a chance in hell he was going to let these moochers take more than they were already getting. Five gold for the secrets of clearing a nightmare difficulty was an absolute steal. The only reason he allowed them to roll for loot was because none of them could understand the value of what they were getting. He was annoyed with himself for bringing them in the first place. There was a slight chance his DPS (damage per second) would be insufficient to clear it alone, so he did what needed to be done.

As it was, the Devil's Defiance Dungeon was his only chance to reach the mystic lands in time. The space inside the mountain was warped by the dungeon, and on nightmare, that meant a short trip all the way to the peak. Additionally, there were two skills that dropped here that he planned on getting from the very beginning.

What he hadn’t planned on was meeting two of the most famous women in the entire Tri-Glades. Both were from prominent martial families with long lineages. Raine had watched several broadcasts of them and could say with absolute certainty that they were much more beautiful in real life than the plain avatars they made for themselves.

This was exactly why he didn’t react when meeting them. They were clearly attempting to play incognito. He recognized their names though: FierceFire, or Freyja Salamant of the Masters Clan, and SolemnRiver, or Talerra Phoenix of the RisingPhoenix Clan. The latter was actually the direct descendant of an old monster and would eventually go on to lose the competition for the position of clan head to her cousin. In the past, her personal guild withdrew from the Tri-Glades for greener pastures. If not, she no doubt would have controlled the entire region, becoming his overlord.

The last thing Raine wanted was to get mixed up with either or draw their attention. Still, he was on a clock and messing around too much by trying to mislead them may backfire even worse. The pressure was on as he dodged another round of super-sonic attacks from the bullet slimes. His manic grin was hidden behind the bandit shroud covering the bottom half of his face.

While quick and deadly, the slimes had long cooldowns between their attacks. Alone, they weren’t difficult to evade so he purposefully drew several of them together to warm up for the first boss. Once their eyes began to glow like flashlights, the direction of the attack was set in stone and all he had to do was not be where they were pointing.

Between their volleys, he continued to target the absorption stones they had consumed, releasing Rupture each time it was off cooldown. He tried not to use Discipline for anything else, not only to challenge himself, but also to preserve the slow-to-regenerate resource. 

He made sure not to kill multiple of them at once as that might allow one of the moochers to steal the coins they dropped. As far as early game went, nightmare dungeons were the best place to farm money. They were also notoriously difficult and restricted player attributes once they reached a certain threshold. The fact these four could now turn this place into a coin printer irked Raine more with every kill.

[Obtained 2800 Group SP bonus 250% Superiority for defeating an elite monster three levels above you]

[Obtained 7% AT bonus 250% Attunement for defeating a monster 3 levels above you]

The same message appeared in his interface three more times over the next two minutes, netting him a not insignificant boost to his SP. Only nine more groups this size and he would have enough to level Cassidy’s Comet to ten. 

Raine purposefully left the fifth slime with one of its stones still intact. Dashing down the adjoining tunnel, he yelled behind him, “Leave this one alone for now. If you get its attention, I won’t save you.”

The group tried to keep their distance from the slime and still follow but were quickly left behind by his superior attributes. It was no surprise they hadn’t taken time to advance all the basic weapon affinities, as that strategy didn’t become a mainstay for nearly a month.

It wasn’t that people were stupid, it was the conditioning from previous virtual experiences that consistently rewarded sticking with a single weapon type. Due to ZionLine attracting people of all kinds, many of whom had never previously played games or had combat training, rewarding them for experimenting early on only made sense.

The tunnel Raine sprinted down was long and angled higher up into the mountain. The two slimes he dashed by had plenty of time to take aim and fire. Having a good grasp of their timing, he ran backward to track the trajectories. The remaining slime from the first group fired two seconds later, Raine easily avoiding it before resuming his mad dash to the next open room.

Three more slimes awaited him inside. They turned to him in unison, their eyes shifting about before settling on his chest, left arm, and right leg. He lifted the arm above his head while extending his foot and twisting his torso. Six deadly lances of slime shot past him. He laughed when one punched through a slime chasing him, knocking out an absorption stone for him.

He didn’t dare attempt to replicate the fortunate mishap by letting himself get surrounded. He was no Virtuoso—those rare experts capable of avoiding attacks even from their blind spots. Raine hugged the wall, keeping all five of them in his sight and angling toward the one with only a single stone left. He reached it before they attacked again, knocking out its last stone. He immediately burned ten Discipline to unleash a Rupture that lowered its defense further before blasting off large chunks of its form.

By the time the group caught up to him, a surly SolemnRiver in the lead, the creature gurgled its last and fell into a slippery puddle. He snatched up the few coins it dropped, flashing them a smile they couldn’t see. Her eyes narrowed in annoyance and she leaped into the fray, smacking two stones out of the nearest slime with a well-placed Slash.

The beast turned on her, its eyes glowing with hatred. She held her ground but Raine’s focus was stolen as the other slimes took aim at him. All six eyes zeroed in on his chest and he had to jump at an angle, turning sideways to narrow his profile. One still grazed his armor, the force of the blow tossing him into the wall. He bounced and then smacked his hand into the floor to throw himself sideways and onto his feet.

SolemnRiver was unscathed after perfectly dodging her slime. She shot him a victorious smirk, then jabbed her large axe into the creature to dislodge another stone. Raine shook his head. He had no intention of drawing her attention by competing, and if she wanted to actually be useful, he wasn’t going to complain. The slimes died quickly, and once more he left one alive so his spear wouldn’t disappear.

It wouldn’t be that strange to see someone changing weapons. Doing it with a flash of light on the other hand, would be quite memorable. He also wasn’t interested in pulling his dagger, which would reveal his whereabouts to Righteous. 

They cleared two more rooms in rapid succession, each a little higher up the inside of the mountain’s bowels. By the time they reached the first boss, SolemnRiver was right on his heels. By burning Discipline in conjunction with immaculate footwork, the walls, and even the ceiling once, she barely kept up with him.

She saw me use Discipline to dodge twice, and she’s already advanced this far? Monster.

“I’ll fight the next one alone. Stay back unless you want to die,” Raine put the aggressive girl from his mind, fully dedicating himself to the first boss that loomed tall before him.

[Elite Shotgun Slime - level 14 - HP ?????/?????]

The creature had eight eyes, and all of them glowed the moment he stepped into its chamber. Only one was facing him, which made Raine want to curse at his sour luck. He angled so it would miss, then focused with all his will, blocking out sound and the gentle breeze on his sweat-slicked skin.

It fired slime just like its lesser brethren, except the ones that weren’t aimed at Raine rebounded off the walls, creating new trajectories. Forced to adjust on the fly, Raine threw himself to the side. He managed to avoid all but one that cracked into his left ankle. [-191] He grunted off the pain, landed on his one good foot, and leaped at the boss with a burst of Discipline.

[Negative affliction received: Hamstrung (Duration 5.79 seconds)]

He ignored the useless ankle, hopping forward on his good leg and closing the distance. His spear snaked into its body twice in rapid succession, both hits targeting the same stone that stubbornly refused to be dislodged. Not taking him seriously, the shotgun slime remained stationary, its four meter frame towering above him as its eyes glowed again. 

This time, three were pointed directly at him while the other five faced the sides and rear. Raine ignored the two at the rear, knowing they wouldn’t be able to pierce through the boss's body after deflecting from the walls. The three aimed at him he avoided by positioning in advance.

The air filled with sonic booms an instant later. Raine didn’t flinch as spears of slime blasted past him, ruffling his hair and sending reverberations through his armor. Two shots raced to the left, and one to the right. They deflected, zipping toward him in a stretched blur. He jumped with both feet, his debuff having worn off a second before. He couldn’t look both directions at once, choosing to focus on the two and hoping for the best. 

Midair, he lashed out with his spear, the Physique behind the blow sending him twirling like a sideways top. The lances grazed by both sides of his extended arm, and the last from behind missed by a good margin, tearing through where he was before jumping. He landed, knowing from his debuff that he had just over six seconds to counter before its slime was condensed enough to fire again.

With two point one Attack Speed, Raine had just enough time for twelve attacks. Half of them were loaded with Discipline in the form of Pierce. This time, he managed to dislodge the first stone, and the second quickly followed.

The boss’s eyes glowed, five pointing to the left. Raine grinned, diving to the right and placing the boss’s mass between him and the majority of the attacks. The last three were easily avoided when he jammed his spearhead into the ground, lifting his body at the last second. He was already Piercing again before landing, but now, he wasn’t alone.

SolemnRiver dashed into the room, roaring as her axe heavily blasted into the creature's thick body. In one solid Slash, she dislodged a stone. There was no competitive smirk this time. Her focus was supreme as she spun, reducing her Attack Speed below its written value by bodily forcing her axe around in a full spin.

If she’s so eager to die, I’m not going to stop her.

With the loss of half its stones, the boss finally started taking the fight seriously. It thinned its form, stretching until it reached the ceiling. It stuck there, spreading out in a wide puddle. Raine was already hard at work, smacking the stones they’d dislodged and sending them skittering to the edges of the room. Then, he ran with his full speed, burning Discipline like he didn’t need it ever again.

SolemnRiver tried to copy him, dashing in another direction but even with Discipline, she was only as fast as he was without it. When the boss’s eyes lit, and it released eight blasts of slime, they ricocheted between the floor and ceiling multiple times, filling the entire space beneath it with deadly slivers.

She jumped, diving to get out from under it but was too slow and one of the lances took her right in the gut. She screamed as her momentum was arrested, the tough slime bouncing her right back into the thick of it. Miraculously, the attack came to an end and she didn’t take another hit or Raine was sure she would have died.

Unfortunately for her, the combo wasn’t done. The boss dropped just as it was, landing flat across a large portion of the floor. SolemnRiver was caught beneath its mass and slammed into the ground. The creature then pulled itself together right around her, trapping her inside. Raine knew that the next time it fired slime, any of its attacks that went into its own body would likely pierce her as well, and that would be it for the foolish girl.

There was absolutely nothing he could do about the situation. She was too large to dislodge, and doing so would hurt her more than help. Consigned to watching her die, he went to work on the next stone. She held her breath and watched him, a calm expression on her face despite the pain she must be in.

“H-help her! Please!” FierceFire screamed from the hallway. 

Raine paid her no mind, his third hit dislodging the next stone. His brows shot up when the soft glow of Mend surrounded SolemnRiver. He hadn’t expected her to have the healing ability, and with it, she just might survive. Raine met her eyes and nodded firmly, which she returned. Then, she braced her feet against a stone beneath her and slowly pushed another out with her bare hands.

Not falling for her, not falling for her.

Raine chanted his new mantra as another soft glow surrounded her, likely returning her to full health. With how expensive the skill was, he doubted she could use it four more times. He also doubted her health was as high as his, which meant he couldn’t let more than one attack hit her at a time.

Grumbling under his breath, he jumped away a second before its eyes were due to light up. The attacks charged right on time, and from this distance, all eight were pointed at him from several directions at once.