Chương 18: Combinations

Cursed Lichfang (Enhanced, Combination (Temporary)) Item Type: Legendary (Unique Event Item) Required Character Level: 201 Stats: 700 Attack Force 50% Critical Strike Damage 15% Critical Strike Chance +5 Dagger Proficiency Abilities: Curse Of Rathax (Passive): Rathax's Soul Orb has filled the curse with demonic energy. 5, 000/5, 000 Damage Stored. Curse Of Rathax (Active): Release all damage stored with a powerful spray of demonic energy. Targets hit will be slowed by 90% for three seconds. The hell? I thought.

A slow? That sounded underwhelming. The damage stored had been lowered to five thousand, and in return I received a slowing effect. Was that really a good tradeoff? Pink's blazing aura was bright enough that it lit the rocks ahead me. I turned my head to see him closing in along with three skeleton Dread Knight warriors. Another flurry of attacks shot at me from his aura. I activated [Curse Of Rathax] and slashed at the attacks.

A spray of dark poison ejected from the blade, and the five thousand released damage met Pink's attacks, cutting them before they could cut me. The poison spray continued, hitting Pink and the four summons behind him. Rathax's curse was much easier to land than the regular blast of dark magic. Suddenly, Pink's movements turned sluggish. He tried to lift an arm, only for his limbs to get stuck. It looked as if each one of his limbs gained a thousand pounds of weight that he had to fight back against.

He was practically paralyzed. I suddenly realized just how powerful a 90% slow was. And with him slowed, I realized I had precisely three seconds to finish him off. Cursed Lichfang turned back to its normal variation, and it still stored the damage I'd previously had in it, which was 2183/20, 000. That would have been enough to one-shot pink, if not for the stacking [Medium Defence] buffs granted to him from Eve's summons. I also couldn't stack the damage from the summons.

They were skeletons, which pretty much required bludgeoning damage to kill. My dagger wouldn't do much. Sullivan and Mochaman were fighting Veyra very close—around eight and a half feet to my left and behind. Suddenly, I got an idea. I [Shadow Dashed] to Sullivan. His health bar was at 50%. Being distracted, I thurst Lichfang into his neck. Slash. [You slayed Sullivan!] [Soul Orb Of Rathax - Reset conditions met] [All ability cooldowns have been reduced by five seconds] I immediately [Shadow Dashed] again, this time to Mochaman's head. He was frozen in place, wondering where his friend had just disappeared, when he, too, received a dagger to the brain. Slash. Reset activated again, and I dashed back to Pink, whose slowing effect was just wearing off. He had [Iron Skin] active, eyes wide in hatred as he saw his two friends die. My dagger now had 18, 791 damage stored in it.

I released [Curse Of The Lich], and all of that damage went straight into Pink's skull. The stacked [Medium Defence] and [Iron Skin] tried their best, but they couldn't protect him against a 18, 791 damage critical strike multiplied by 3000%. A discharge of dark magic burst from my dagger and his head exploded to bits. Slash. [You slayed Pink] [You Leveled Up!] This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Now only two people besides me remained in the boss room.

Veyra, of course, and Evelyn. Eve's health bar was at 7%. She held her staff as a desperate last defence. Slowly stepping backward, her foot hit a piece of a cocoon. She fell on her back, then continued crawling, until a wall stopped her. Veyra had her staff ready to shoot an icicle. I held my hand up.

"Stop. That's my real life friend." Veyra blinked.

"A real life friend? But she just betrayed you?"

"Well, we're all Wonderwind players," I said.

"No hard feelings."

"Um," Evelyn said, voice hesitant.

"Aiden? We can talk this out…?"

"Sure," I said.

"I actually wanted to ask for a favor. I need you to log out and do something for me." She gave me a look.

"Please remember that I have a boyfriend."

"Yeah, he's exactly the problem," I said.

"How close does he live?"

"Close," Eve said.

"He could get to the cafe in ten minutes."

"I'm guessing he's already on his way," I said.

"So for that favor, uh, I'm going to need you to stop him from ripping me out of the pod."

"He's not that stupid," Eve said, but she was looking away. Sure, I thought.

"Just tell him that I'll talk to him after my time is up in the pod. Won't be long."

"Sure, I'll do that," Eve said.

"So you'll let me live?" I can't believe I used to have a crush on you… I thought, sighing. But she was still a "friend" in real life. I wouldn't want to start anything that would form grudges.

"Yes, I'll let you live. Log off now."

"Deal," she said. She initiated a safe log-out, and glimmering specks began rising from her shoulders and head. Five seconds later, she disappeared. The next time she logged in, she'd start in the nearest town. Veyra and I were left alone in the room of corpses. I gave her a grin.

"That was beautiful. Thanks for coming." She was, of course, already looting everyone we'd killed.

"Just remember I came for the money."

"Same here," I said. Just like last time, Veyra was fair with the loot distribution. She confidently took whatever she wanted, even if I had killed them, but she left some of her own kills to me if she didn't want whatever had dropped. She didn't loot Pink, leaving his corpse for me. I picked up his item, and while repeating in my head, Tiara, tiara, tiara, please, please, please, legendary. The item I got was Ring Of Sharpness (Epic Ring). Well, we can't always be winners…

We looted everything, mostly haphazard rares and a few epics. The Arachnid Queen's Cutlass that the boss had dropped was much, much more valuable than anything the lower level Cupcake Crew members had dropped, probably worth around five thousand dollars.

"I'm ready to get out," I said.

"Another insane raid."

"What, you don't want to stay for a clean-up?" Veyra asked, but from her smirk, I figured she was joking. Until suddenly, a system warning message popped up in front of her. Any enthusiasm in her face fell in an instant.

"Shit," she said.

"What is it?"

"Forced log-out," she said.

"Something's wrong with my pod. I need to go." She immediately began channeling the safe log-out, particles rising from her shoulders. I watched, taken aback. That was it, then? There were so many things I wanted to ask and poke her about. But at the same time, I really had to get to a safe zone with all this gear right now. I was about to start channeling my own log-out as well, when a dark spider suddenly pounced at Veyra. Her log-out was canceled, and she fell back to 40% health.

She cursed and swung around with her staff, hitting the spider in the head before killing it with an icicle. She bit her lip and tried to log-out again. It didn't work. The game saw that she was in combat, and didn't let her log out safely. Then forced log-out kicked in, and forcefully kicked her out of the game. And since the game still thought she was in combat, the game system assumed she was trying to escape by logging off. That wasn't allowed.

Yet, Wonderwind also couldn't force players to remain in virtual reality. In case of emergencies, logging out immediately was always possible. Because of that, the game had a system to punish players who logged out in combat without the safe log-out. A slash sounded, and Veyra's character died. I stood in shock. What the hell? What was the chance of this happening? After all that, Veyra had an issue with her game pod and died? No way. I've been there… I thought, feeling a little bad.

Everything from her inventory dropped, including all of the loot she'd just picked up. I picked it all up. The standouts were Demonspawn Bycocket (Epic Unique Hat), the boss drop, and Adamantite Runeaxe (Epic Crafted Axe, Enhanced (Permanent)), which must have dropped from Sullivan. Heh. Eve's boyfriend lost his only valuable item. Veyra's dropped gear piece was her staff.

Legacy Of The Portal Mage Item Type: Legendary (Unique Event Staff) Required Character Level: 186 Stats: 1200 Spell Power 100% Mana Regeneration +5 Proficiency To All Time Spells Abilities: Frozen Time (Passive): All Frost Spells share proficiency with Time Spells. Portal Mage (Active): Place up to three portals to a solid surface. Portals allow for free travel for anyone that passes through. Casting condition: 2000 mana; the location of the portal's spawn-point must be visible to the eye.

After a player enters the portal, all portals will close, and the spell goes on a six second cooldown. I blinked, then rubbed my eyes, thinking I'd seen wrong. But no, Veyra really had a legendary staff. Not only that, the staff was pretty much her bread and butter. All of the spells I'd seen Veyra use so far were either time spells or frost spells. She loved using the portal as well, and she was damned good at it. The staff was super specialized—the very item that made her build work.

Without it, her frost spells would be essentially trash. She would be forced to respec her abilities to something else. Time mages were also rare, meaning that the staff probably wouldn't sell for much. Specialized items always sold for less than general powerful items, like my dagger. The stats themselves on the staff were mediocre for a legendary item, probably to make up for the insane effects. The staff wouldn't be that expensive. Perhaps only three to five thousand dollars, despite being a legendary.

But even still, I felt a strong sense of responsibility to keep the staff safe and treat it well. Veyra's gameplay wouldn't be the same without the staff. I initiated the safe log-out, and I made it out successfully.